If the powerful governments wanted to, do you think they could stop Bitcoin?

[aencarnaci]

I dont think that they would be able because now crypto has almost spread everywhere and bitcoin is the base of all of them.. So Its a really difficult task to stop btc..

I don’t think so that this thing will ever happen. It is because of the reason that bitcoin is decentralized in nature which makes bitcoin very much independent. There is no one who is controlling bitcoin either directly or indirectly. Moreover, the way bitcoin is making the economic condition of so many countries better, I believe government will not take such kind of step.

[nelsledma]

The governments are only all powerful if you believe them to be. Thing is there are a lot of people that are waking up to the fact that they are powerful and governments are powerless, but we were giving them the power so now we're taking it back with Bitcoin.

The government can only do one thing that they can stop entering bitcoin in their region and that’s it and those who are not allowing bitcoin in their region they will suffer about this decision because bitcoin is the way toward the development and progress in region and stopping it means that they are not allowing their people to earn well and those who did so will lag in economy and they will regret,

[Pixyoxx]

This is something which I've beleived for awhile, which is the prospect that if big governments and banks worked heavily together they'd be able to remove Bitcoin from the face of the earth. They wouldn't ban it, as that would be a tough thing to swallow for the American people as they wouldn't see a good reason to do that ( at least in my mind here) But they could just go ahead and regulate Bitcoin into oblivion, making it hard for Bitcoin businesses (buying and selling, trading, etc) to operate within their countries, or be subject to insane taxes, KYC AML and such.

Do you think Governments could kill Bitcoin?

I dont think government can ban, or even regulate bitcoins for that matter. These days encryption services are so well equipped that one can secure their whole hard drive by encrypting it. Bitcoin is a open source code, thus anyone can view it, do you  think this thing wasnt in mind of the creater?

Check this article and see what Louis J. Freeh, director of the FBI has to say about encryption and its use to protect anything and everything, even the criminal activities.  https://epic.org/crypto/legislation/freeh_797.html   

I believe Bitcoin will rise or fall on its own merits.

[hynext]

No, can't stop because bitcoin is now popularized in the world. Government can regulate it or ban to their country but i think they could not kill. Many users are going to resign to their full time job to make bitcoins. The government will consider it and they realized that bitcoin has many aspect in life.

[digitx]

Its an interesting question - but I think that any government that did this would basically be saying in no uncertain terms that they are the final arbiters of all money created.

It would mean that they are saying that you are not allowed to trade freely and that you are stuck with the currency of the country that you trade with.

If all governments said this then it would mean that they have created a monetary alliance that is stronger than Bitcoin because they could easily "outlaw" Bitcoin (using the legal system - they wouldn't be able to shut it down technically) and make their new currency legal tender.

If that were to happen then there would be no need for Bitcoin because it would mean that there would now be a borderless currency (which is one of the main value propositions of Bitcoin) and most likely the price of Bitcoin would drop.

If, however, they went about outlawing Bitcoin without providing an alternative - its likely that it wouldn't be a universal deal - there would still be countries that value the economic freedom of the individual above outlawing Bitcoin and would most likely not join the alliance - meaning Bitcoin could be mined and distributed legally there.

Maybe one day our leaders will understand that money is just a technology to help drive the economy and satisfy human needs and wants. Until then - buy Bitcoin.

[swscowods]

I dont think that they would be able because now crypto has almost spread everywhere and bitcoin is the base of all of them.. So Its a really difficult task to stop btc..

Absolutely, they can’t disappear bitcoin from this earth now. Bitcoin have made a very sensitive place in the hearts of its users. All around the world people are talking about it and then they start planning to dive into this amazing sea of profits. So, how much powerful government it would be, they can’t remove biotin unless there are no computers or internet.

[Cosbycoin]

I think not because bitcoin is a digital item whose function is the same as gold that the price is not set by the government so the government can not prohibit the circulation of bitcoin. The government also can not freeze the ownership of bitcoin and bitcoin is also very easy to move to another wallet or can be easily taken out of the country so to ban the circulation of bitcoin is very difficult.

We all know this thing that bitcoin is decentralized in nature which actually means that there is no one who can actually control the bitcoin. As far as powerful governments are concerned, I really don’t think so that any government can do this thing.

Even if there is some government who can do this thing the government will not stop usage of bitcoin in their country as it is something which is helping their people a lot.

[Persiville]

Actually i am thinking they cannot really hold down bitcoin, or totally shut it down, its because basically they really don't know how much asset somebody has, and apso they do not have access to it. Instead they can claim it is illegal and out of the law that is why it is also too risky.

[Panda Trump]

Keep it from becoming even more popular and a currency used by most of the world's population? Yes.
Lower its popularity and potentially keep it to a small group of lawbreakers by making Bitcoin illegal? Yes.
Completely destroy the Bitcoin community? No.

Bitcoin is too large and too decentralized to be completely destroyed.
It can be made harder to use it, but it can't be stopped completely.

Regards,
Trump

[gentlemand]

They can't kill it. They can deter 95% or more of users which is as good as doing so by strangling the exchanges. A Bitcoin that can't easily be exchanged suddenly becomes a lot less attractive to most people.

It would only be truly effective if all governments did it at once which is why it's an exceedingly unlikely scenario. If Belgium squashed it you'd simply nip across to the Netherlands.

[iv4n]

This is something which I've beleived for awhile, which is the prospect that if big governments and banks worked heavily together they'd be able to remove Bitcoin from the face of the earth. They wouldn't ban it, as that would be a tough thing to swallow for the American people as they wouldn't see a good reason to do that ( at least in my mind here) But they could just go ahead and regulate Bitcoin into oblivion, making it hard for Bitcoin businesses (buying and selling, trading, etc) to operate within their countries, or be subject to insane taxes, KYC AML and such.

Do you think Governments could kill Bitcoin?

Governments together can kill bitcoin, but I believe that governments across the world will never unite and have same agendas. Powerful governments have influence just in some parts of the world, but they can't cover all the world, they can't cover their own territories because there are illegal actions done everywhere.
What I'm saying is that bitcoin can't be destroyed just like that, some governments are slowing progress of bitcoin with their restrictions and with that actions they protect banking system that works for them. In same time they stop people from using bitcoins and in that way people are financially hurted.

[Bit Log]

This is something which I've beleived for awhile, which is the prospect that if big governments and banks worked heavily together they'd be able to remove Bitcoin from the face of the earth. They wouldn't ban it, as that would be a tough thing to swallow for the American people as they wouldn't see a good reason to do that ( at least in my mind here) But they could just go ahead and regulate Bitcoin into oblivion, making it hard for Bitcoin businesses (buying and selling, trading, etc) to operate within their countries, or be subject to insane taxes, KYC AML and such.

Do you think Governments could kill Bitcoin?

I believe they can. Whether its that huge part of this world they can still remove it and erase it from existence. But why would they do that. If a government see a opportunity to earn money, why would they do such a thing. It will be a waste of time, money and chances, instead, I think they will invest on bitcoin if they see that it can  give them a lot of earnings. 

[dekafee79]

This is something which I've beleived for awhile, which is the prospect that if big governments and banks worked heavily together they'd be able to remove Bitcoin from the face of the earth. They wouldn't ban it, as that would be a tough thing to swallow for the American people as they wouldn't see a good reason to do that ( at least in my mind here) But they could just go ahead and regulate Bitcoin into oblivion, making it hard for Bitcoin businesses (buying and selling, trading, etc) to operate within their countries, or be subject to insane taxes, KYC AML and such.

Do you think Governments could kill Bitcoin?

no, i think. very dufficult to stop or ban bitcoin. today bitcoin very prospected.

[hacker1001101001]

Perhaps they could stop but chances are too low as we all know that bitcoins are the annynomous currency which does not allow any government to keep a track on iy. Infact bitcoins are free to move and even they could be easily exchanged with bitcoin mixer.

[Coffee135]

This is something which I've beleived for awhile, which is the prospect that if big governments and banks worked heavily together they'd be able to remove Bitcoin from the face of the earth. They wouldn't ban it, as that would be a tough thing to swallow for the American people as they wouldn't see a good reason to do that ( at least in my mind here) But they could just go ahead and regulate Bitcoin into oblivion, making it hard for Bitcoin businesses (buying and selling, trading, etc) to operate within their countries, or be subject to insane taxes, KYC AML and such.

Do you think Governments could kill Bitcoin?

I believe they can. Whether its that huge part of this world they can still remove it and erase it from existence. But why would they do that. If a government see a opportunity to earn money, why would they do such a thing. It will be a waste of time, money and chances, instead, I think they will invest on bitcoin if they see that it can  give them a lot of earnings. 

I don't see how the government can make money using bitcoins. Even if we assume that all users will just to pay taxes, many people will choose bitcoin. This means that the real economy will lose mechanisms to involve employees in the state could begin the collapse.

[DrGuns4Hands]

nope I think government can't control  and stop bitcoin because it is online and over the net. which using a hash or something like that. they can't stop people on doing exchanges in btc like doing buying and selling and also it is a decentralized currency so no one can control it the only thing that can affect btc is the economy that doing exchanges.

[h0lybyte]

I think governments can stop bitcoin being utilized within their country by banning their local exchanges but they can't stop bitcoin being transacted over networks.
Look at china's government, they banned ICOs but couldn't stop locals from adopting bitcoin.
Bitcoin is still anonymous , that's why it can not be controlled wholly by some aspects.

[corroze]

I agree with you even though the government has the authority, but of course they can not stop the various transactions and activities in the bitcoin field.
But now there has been a lot of changes that occurred in some exchange services that ask for verification ID as a condition to be able to conduct transactions as a whole. And this seems to be a signal of government involvement into bitcoin

[tee-rex]

This is something which I've beleived for awhile, which is the prospect that if big governments and banks worked heavily together they'd be able to remove Bitcoin from the face of the earth. They wouldn't ban it, as that would be a tough thing to swallow for the American people as they wouldn't see a good reason to do that ( at least in my mind here) But they could just go ahead and regulate Bitcoin into oblivion, making it hard for Bitcoin businesses (buying and selling, trading, etc) to operate within their countries, or be subject to insane taxes, KYC AML and such.

Do you think Governments could kill Bitcoin?

I don't really think they could kill Bitcoin in the way you mean it by overregulating it, though I certainly see that as a legitimate point of concern. This is what now happens in China and will likely happen in Russia too in the next few months. Bitcoin and other cryptos depend on exchanges but such exchanges like Bitfinex, which seems to get most Bitcoin trading nowadays, are registered in territories which are rather liberal in this respect. In this manner, overregulation even in the US and EU may not have the effect the governments may be looking for.

Thus the answer is, no, they won't kill it by imposing insane taxes, KYC and AML policies, or whatever alongside these.

[lordquanta]

This is something which I've beleived for awhile, which is the prospect that if big governments and banks worked heavily together they'd be able to remove Bitcoin from the face of the earth. They wouldn't ban it, as that would be a tough thing to swallow for the American people as they wouldn't see a good reason to do that ( at least in my mind here) But they could just go ahead and regulate Bitcoin into oblivion, making it hard for Bitcoin businesses (buying and selling, trading, etc) to operate within their countries, or be subject to insane taxes, KYC AML and such.

Do you think Governments could kill Bitcoin?

I don't really think they could kill Bitcoin in the way you mean it by overregulating it, though I certainly see that as a legitimate point of concern. This is what now happens in China and will likely happen in Russia too in the next few months. Bitcoin and other cryptos depend on exchanges but such exchanges like Bitfinex, which seems to get most Bitcoin trading nowadays, are registered in territories which are rather liberal in this respect. In this manner, overregulation even in the US and EU may not have the effect the governments may be looking for.

Thus the answer is, no, they won't kill it by imposing insane taxes, KYC and AML policies, or whatever alongside these.

Technically stopping bitcoin is not possible till the last country on earth is allowing it. We need to understand that bitcoin is a peer to peer crypto currency. All it needs is a blockchain which keeps the ledger of transactions. Here no central authority could decide what can be modified or done once transaction is done(block is mined). The way govt has been controlling the economy by threatening a person or company was with there ability to  confiscate the cash and seize or froze the bank accounts. In other words govt could disable a person from using currency. And with help of other countries and organizations like InterPol they managed to force their action in other countries as well. Of course other countries also do the same. With bitcoin there is no such control available for govt. Thus they cannot kill it completely. However they could put curbs on bitcoin or crypto currency to the level that will demoralize people from using bitoin. Or they could even make it illegal to posses the coins. Or heavily tax the coins and companies which deals in bitocin.