What will you do if governments try to take away your bitcoin?

[Luciddd]

LOL...An attempt would be hilarious

That actually would be funny to see them demand everyone give them their bitcoins.

What I'm talking about is them trying to make it illegal, therefor having bitcoin fail because it would scare the general population away from using it and making it more difficult.

They could force companies like Apple/Microsoft and virus softwares to look for anything to do with BTC and have it disabled.

Yes of course people can get around that, but that doesn't mean the general population will go through all this trouble to.

It would basically form "underground" bitcoin users and in any case it just wouldn't work anymore and I'd call that a huge failure on the bitcoin project if any of this were to happen.

Among many other things, they could easily track down, raid and demolish BTC miners/pools/etc.

[coinedBit]

adoption would be significantly affected by regulating btc, simply because commercial vendors could no longer afford being associated with bitcoin if it is made "illegal". Only deepweb black markets a la "Silk Road" would not be affected, and would also remain the only places where you could spend your coins ironically...

[bonker]

Why would they take your BTC?... The PTB can effortlessly squish Bitcoin out of existence a hundred different ways.

[CasinoBit]

I'll give them my bitcoin when they pry it from my cold, dead hands.

Funny thing is I remember people saying the exact same thing about guns until all the school massacres happened and now you're a "traitor" if you don't give in, my point is that Bitcoin will be painted in propoganda so heavily by then that everyone who owns them will be labeled under killing-drug-dealing-nazi-pedophile-human-trafficking junkie.

[franky1]

I'll give them my bitcoin when they pry it from my cold, dead hands.

Funny thing is I remember people saying the exact same thing about guns until all the school massacres happened and now you're a "traitor" if you don't give in, my point is that Bitcoin will be painted in propoganda so heavily by then that everyone who owns them will be labeled under killing-drug-dealing-nazi-pedophile-human-trafficking junkie.

this is where trying to introduce another was legal-now not product fails in regards to bitcoin,

bitcoins don't gt created on farms by anyone. the majority of them are originally from manufacturers funded by governments, making them government products and under government control. hense the requirements for licences etc.

bitcoin is a licence free legal personal possession.. they can't suddenly revoke your licence or inform you they want a recall on their product. its not theirs!!

[coinedBit]

I'll put it in the goverment's ass.

FYI: you will need to get a hardware wallet for that (preferably a big one), or they won't even notice you doing that ... and you'll have to pick a representative, too.

[Cyberdyne]

in reality unless you personally are doing something illegal you have nothing to fear

http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/1594035229

[coinedBit]

in reality, most of us won't embark on illegal activities, but also don't like the idea of sharing potential "early-adopter profits" with authorities just because we were right, I mean it's not like losses would be shared, right ?

[QuestionAuthority]

in reality, most of us won't embark on illegal activities, but also don't like the idea of sharing potential "early-adopter profits" with authorities just because we were right, I mean it's not like losses would be shared, right ?

It doesn't work that way. If you gamble at a casino and win they get to share in your good fortune (it's taxed). If you lose they don't pay you. The compromise is you can claim gambling losses but only as much as your winnings. Dealing with governments, the best you can ever hope for is to break even.

[Jozzaboy]

Well, if the government ever ends up regulating Bitcoin, I will only have around 100 satoshi or so left and they can have that. It's all handily in one wallet. 

Notice: The above is a story of fictitious entertainment and can not be used as evidence in a court of law. 

[Bogdan]

I read another topic the US financials said they won't be regulating crytocurrency, specifically bitcoin.

[coinedBit]

...because the NSA and CIA voted against it? 

[420]

I'll give them my bitcoin when they pry it from my cold, dead hands.

cold dead harddrive

[felipelalli]

It is impossible dude. Bitcoin has a magic property: it is highly deniable.

[AliceWonder]

They don't have to pry over your dead hands, just get them out of your computer

Cold storage baby!

Bingo

If the U.S. government said bitcoin was illegal, the first thing I would do is buy as much as I could afford from all the people panic selling. If I could, it might be hard to find an exchange fast enough, I only like U.S. based exchanges and they may go off-line at such a decision.

Second thing I would do is put all I had into a paper wallet.

Then I would try to find a lawyer and sue the government based upon the first amendment. I believe that using bitcoin is an expression of free speech protesting the status quo banking system.

[freedomno1]

They don't have to pry over your dead hands, just get them out of your computer

Cold storage baby!

Bingo

If the U.S. government said bitcoin was illegal, the first thing I would do is buy as much as I could afford from all the people panic selling. If I could, it might be hard to find an exchange fast enough, I only like U.S. based exchanges and they may go off-line at such a decision.

Second thing I would do is put all I had into a paper wallet.

Then I would try to find a lawyer and sue the government based upon the first amendment. I believe that using bitcoin is an expression of free speech protesting the status quo banking system.

That would be an interesting court case
We know how the founding fathers frowned on Central Banking so it would be interesting to make the case haha
I disagree the founding fathers would have used Decentralized Banking if it was available or the market will keep manipulating it till its created so they can manipulate it even more
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_central_banking_in_the_United_States

[420]

They don't have to pry over your dead hands, just get them out of your computer

Cold storage baby!

Bingo

If the U.S. government said bitcoin was illegal, the first thing I would do is buy as much as I could afford from all the people panic selling. If I could, it might be hard to find an exchange fast enough, I only like U.S. based exchanges and they may go off-line at such a decision.

Second thing I would do is put all I had into a paper wallet.

Then I would try to find a lawyer and sue the government based upon the first amendment. I believe that using bitcoin is an expression of free speech protesting the status quo banking system.

a lawyer that takes paper wallet bitcoins

[Pumpkin]

I'd just tell them that unfortunately I had lost all my BTC the day before.

[gannicus]

The big advantage of bitcoin is that it cannot be easily confiscated from you like physical properties like your house, your farm, your car, your gold or fiat money. You can chose between die and giving away, and if you chose to die for your bitcoins, the "thief" cannot take them from you, i.e. he needs to alive to take them from you. This is very different from physical stuff where you can just be killed and your stuff taken, and this whole thing makes a huge difference.

[Mjbmonetarymetals]

........and then there's the aliens they deffinately maybe could be mounting an attack as we speak...........