How much can world governments control (strangle) bitcoin?

[yenom]

I've been laying awake in bed at night wondering just what the major world governments can do to halt the spread of bitcoin. Let's face it, it is not in their best interests if they want to retain control of monetary policy, control interest rates, money supply, etc. I am 100% certain that bitcoin is the solution to the current raping of future generations through the slack, sloppy policies of money printing (I refuse to use the official term quantitative easing) and artificially low interest rates.

If government wanted to ensure that bitcoin never took hold in the mainstream, they could:

• Increase regulation to the point that the economics of using bitcoin become unattractive (humans respond to incentives)
• Simply outlaw bitcoin transactions by corporate retailers (and other corporations such as financial institutions)
• Outlaw bitcoin exchanges

If bitcoin is discouraged by the State, and I see no reason why they would not attempt to do that, then what future does bitcoin really hold? Can mass market adoption really occur if the State is against it? Would appreciate some thoughtful answers on this topic, or pointers to articles already written on it.

Might help me sleep at night.

[beetcoin]

they could at worst crash the price of BTC and make it more difficult for exchanges to exist. i don't think bitcoin will really take off without exchanges, as there needs to be liquidity in the market. they could also enforce strict tax laws and punish those who do not follow it.

[chmod755]

If something becomes very popular those who are wealthy are buying it up and you won't hear about it  - and dump it when it's getting very expensive - followed by a large amount of paid media articles to get fools to sell after them so they can rebuy at low rates just to repeat the cycle. They're not giving up their powers, if they can take control of many Bitcoins.

[beetcoin]

If something becomes very popular those who are wealthy are buying it up and you won't hear about it  - and dump it when it's getting very expensive - followed by a large amount of paid media articles to get fools to sell after them so they can rebuy at low rates just to repeat the cycle.

yeah, i think our recent crash was propagated by chinese officials, who colluded with baidu. they probably just dumped their BTC and re-bought when it dipped really low.

[GigaCoin]

I've been laying awake in bed at night wondering just what the major world governments can do to halt the spread of bitcoin. Let's face it, it is not in their best interests if they want to retain control of monetary policy, control interest rates, money supply, etc. I am 100% certain that bitcoin is the solution to the current raping of future generations through the slack, sloppy policies of money printing (I refuse to use the official term quantitative easing) and artificially low interest rates.

If government wanted to ensure that bitcoin never took hold in the mainstream, they could:

• Increase regulation to the point that the economics of using bitcoin become unattractive (humans respond to incentives)
• Simply outlaw bitcoin transactions by corporate retailers (and other corporations such as financial institutions)
• Outlaw bitcoin exchanges

If bitcoin is discouraged by the State, and I see no reason why they would not attempt to do that, then what future does bitcoin really hold? Can mass market adoption really occur if the State is against it? Would appreciate some thoughtful answers on this topic, or pointers to articles already written on it.

Might help me sleep at night.

If bitcoin is crushed by governments the price will crash to double or single digits. Bitcoin needs exchanges for large scale adoption.

If that happens, Cryptos like AnonCoin and Stablecoin will rise in value due to their anon architecture that makes them government proof. However they will remain largely underground and used for illegal purposes, as you'll never be able to cash them out legally.

[Lethn]

Well we've already seen what they're doing to exchanges like MTGOX but here's the thing, my nightmare scenario is when they start trying to confiscate and severely restrict the trade of Gold/Silver as many have done in the past. In order to buy this with cryptocurrencies the only thing you need is an address for the delivery company to go to and there are very few restrictions on trading that, you can even sell it for paper money pretty easily without needing to worry about ID's and so on.

That's my nightmare scenario, once they start trying to confiscate the precious metals and really start tightening the noose that's when we'll have a full blown dictatorship because a failing country always gets really desperate to keep capital from leaving.

[Honeypot]

" due to their anon architecture that makes them government proof"

Ah the sweet illusion of those without knowledge of true sovereign power...

As if they had any trouble tracking down people who regarded themselves as the new 'revolutionaries of free speech'.


I don't know which is worse, the government that is slightly bent, or these fools without any proper knowledge or experience of political and economic power who thinks knocking on the very system that gurantees their soft lifestyle is a 'revolutionary' thing to do.

Watching anons is like watching occupy wall street movement. They scream about ivory tower feel good bullshit then whip out their 500 dollar smartphones and pick up latte at starbucks.

[Lethn]

To be honest Honeypot, I've come to understand exactly why rich people usually tend to live in gated communities with security guards protecting them when you hear the kind of talk coming out of peoples' mouths, it really is ignorant and I'm unemployed lol.

[GigaCoin]

" due to their anon architecture that makes them government proof"

Ah the sweet illusion of those without knowledge of true sovereign power...

As if they had any trouble tracking down people who regarded themselves as the new 'revolutionaries of free speech'.


I don't know which is worse, the government that is slightly bent, or these fools without any proper knowledge or experience of political and economic power who thinks knocking on the very system that gurantees their soft lifestyle is a 'revolutionary' thing to do.

Watching anons is like watching occupy wall street movement. They scream about ivory tower feel good bullshit then whip out their 500 dollar smartphones and pick up latte at starbucks.

Not sure why you got offended when you heard the word "anon"

Anoncoin has nothing to do with the so called anons carrying their iPhones and screaming about ivory towers, you shouldn't link it to those protests (that were totally useless imo and mainly delusional socialist in nature). There are more real problems in the economy that they ignored and don't understand like the Fed and endless cost of living pressures and rising poverty.

The coin just uses the idea and branding of anon to create this new anonymous crypto currency. If you really think something like anoncoin cannot survive under a government crackdown you're delusional. Sure you can't cash out to USD but anoncoin will survive as a medium of exchange in the anonymous networks (that's the purpose of it). Look at silk road, shutdown, silk road v2, and many other silk roads poped up in the deep web they can't be stopped illegal or not.

The only way to shut it down is shutdown the internet and take back humanity to the stone ages.

[Honeypot]

To be honest Honeypot, I've come to understand exactly why rich people usually tend to live in gated communities with security guards protecting them when you hear the kind of talk coming out of peoples' mouths, it really is ignorant and I'm unemployed lol.

Exactly. Most of the ones that are loudest aren't even all that poor. I have seen poor and lived along side them. 90% of the people in US who are 'poor' are laboring under a false impression that their largely self-inflicted lifestyle is somehow someone else's fault, while riding a private vehicle and buying cheap food at a local market store. Not to mention all the packs they buy for 6 bucks a pop daily.

The first thing really poor people tell those from US with that kind of attitude is 'stop crying'. That is, if they are even nice enough to feel pity for that kind of pathetic attitude instead of being really REALLY PISSED OFF.

With wannabe kids like Jullian Assange and Snowden being hailed as a 'hero of freedom', or incompetent and naive president being called a 'symbol of fairness and equality', it's little wonder that many truly suffering people outside of US regard all that bitching and moaning coming from these 'freedom fighters' and 'civil rights activists' as nothing more than a sad joke.

My ethnic minority status aside, what's wrong is wrong - and what is pathetic probably is how it seems.

If it quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, etc. etc.

P.S: Look up that one video about a CEO coming down to chastise the OWS kids. It's like watching a kindergarten principle talking down a bunch of whiny 5 year olds.

"Share the wealth!" "WAAHHHH WE WANT EQUALITY" ........."Go sell your 600 dollar iphone and invest that shit"

[Lethn]

lol sorry but I respect Julian Assange and Snowden quite a lot, you can't defend government spying if they hadn't had stood up to them who knows what would have happened?

[mmeijeri]

Since they have never succeeded in eradicating the black market, they likely won't be able to stop it being used as the currency of the black market. And in that case, it's game over for fiat currencies.

[GigaCoin]

To be honest Honeypot, I've come to understand exactly why rich people usually tend to live in gated communities with security guards protecting them when you hear the kind of talk coming out of peoples' mouths, it really is ignorant and I'm unemployed lol.

With wannabe kids like Jullian Assange and Snowden being hailed as a 'hero of freedom'

Right, because Snowden and Jullian assange are scum traitors that need to be hanged for exposing government tyranny, constitutional illegal spying on their citizens and allies, theft, police state, illegal wars, torture, massacres, human right abuses, etc, etc….

You really have no idea of anything do you

Good luck attacking Snowden and Julian in a liberty loving Bitcoin community, maybe you should look for the "i love the government, please spy on me more" forums.

[Honeypot]

lol sorry but I respect Julian Assange and Snowden quite a lot, you can't defend government spying if they hadn't had stood up to them who knows what would have happened?

I think you might need to understand that those 'heroes' couldn't even be bothered to go after really hard targets like Russia, China or arab nations with religious scruples that make inquisitors look tame. But no, they understood that those nations will not give a two penny fuck about some wannabe kid's moral conundrum made to feel heroic for themselves.

They are just cowards and wannabe revolutionaries who crave the notion of being seen as 'radical leaders against the MAN' or some childish and infantile mentality that could only be considered 'heroic' in a soft, pampered and complacent environment of the first world college students. The whole 'stand up against government spying' is nothing more than a convenient excuse that doesn't really mask a very laughable attitude of these kids playing at being a hero against the EVIL government.

When chips are down and they actually have to stand up personally against whatever they believe is the 'enemy', they run to very embassies and countries who commit such 'totalitarian' acts as par the course on a regular basis, and in all likelihood view such individuals as sad, pathetic and laughably naive. I am sure russians had a lot of fun toying with snowden and making him squeal.

As for the government spying, I really don't think you understand that they couldn't care less about 'embarrassing' details of nobodies who amusingly believe their personal affairs constitute the center of the universe. They do have vested interest in keeping tabs on enemy elements that try to exploit the complacent and gullible nature of our public, and eavesdropping on mindless 'problems' of individuals is just shifting through the chaff and getting to the wheat.

If you really want to know what government spying is, I suggest you try to live in a country where 'informers' and 'public order ministry' are a fact of life. While our government should conduct itself with greater efficiency and professionalism, people who can't even get their act together to act their age (as in, not idolizing obvious man-children) really lose the right to be held on high regard that is given at birth to citizens of first world nations.

Rights are inalienable by actions of others. However, they are definitely alienable by the virtue of your own actions. You are given the opportunity at birth to exercise those rights, instead of having to struggle and fight for them tooth and nail throughout your whole life as many of our ancestors did. However, that opportunity is dependent on your own actions as an individual. Those who demonstrate a clear lack of motivation and ability to correctly exercise themselves will find they will have no shoulder to cry on when called to account for their failings.

That means, holding your idea of 'heroes' to a higher standards. Not some mouthy albino fool with an attitude of a spoiled 15 year old school girl.

[Lethn]

The difference is that we already know about about it, we knew that something was going on behind the scenes in America but now we know for sure and I'm sorry but defending your 'side' just because they're your side is a bit like the way Republicans and Democrats always defend themselves no matter how big their fuck up was. Comparing Julian Assange and Edward Snowden to the likes of occupy wallstreet protesters just makes you look ridiculous especially when their actions have put everybody's alarms on and now the American government can't cause a thermonuclear war by pissing everyone off without our knowledge.

Frankly you sound like the classic cold war nut who still thinks the Russians and Chinese are all out to get you and they're still communists, fact is, most of them are like us and just don't give a fuck anymore.

[Honeypot]

To be honest Honeypot, I've come to understand exactly why rich people usually tend to live in gated communities with security guards protecting them when you hear the kind of talk coming out of peoples' mouths, it really is ignorant and I'm unemployed lol.

With wannabe kids like Jullian Assange and Snowden being hailed as a 'hero of freedom'

Right, because Snowden and Jullian assange are scum traitors that need to be hanged for exposing government tyranny, constitutional illegal spying on their citizens and allies, theft, police state, illegal wars, torture, massacres, human right abuses, etc, etc….

You really have no idea of anything do you

Good luck attacking Snowden and Julian in a liberty loving Bitcoin community, maybe you should look for the "i love the government, please spy on me more" forums.

Haha now that's a first. Oh, those EVIL first world governments with deadly 500 people 'massacres' and 'police states' (swiping a bunch of wannabe internet revolutionaries who squeal like school girls when they get nailed) and 'human rights abuses' (God, how could they BELLY SLAP a prisoner?! How could they house them and feed them even 3 times a day and keep them alive so long in such INHUMANE conditions?!).

I think you might need to check yourself before thinking you know anything about what those words really mean. I don't think anyone who has actually lived in third world countries with the poor invisible victims (invisible because a bunch of soft-assed 'human rights activists' like to ignore their point of view and instead try to impose their version of 'human rights wrongs') would think of your statement regarding 'atrocities' as anything other than laughable.

Really. Get some proper perspective. Would you like to go hiking along Iranian border to issue a proclamation about the evils of the west while your at it?

[Lethn]

I could go into the numbers of Iraqi and Afghanistan civilians the U.S government has killed but then you'd go into denial even more oh and then there's the fact that your guys 'accidentally' shot British troops without bothering to check whether they were friendlies.

[Honeypot]

The difference is that we already know about about it, we knew that something was going on behind the scenes in America but now we know for sure and I'm sorry but defending your 'side' just because they're your side is a bit like the way Republicans and Democrats always defend themselves no matter how big their fuck up was. Comparing Julian Assange and Edward Snowden to the likes of occupy wallstreet protesters just makes you look ridiculous especially when their actions have put everybody's alarms on and now the American government can't cause a thermonuclear war by pissing everyone off without our knowledge.

Frankly you sound like the classic cold war nut who still thinks the Russians and Chinese are all out to get you and they're still communists, fact is, most of them are like us and just don't give a fuck anymore.

What is really important is not necessarily what they acted upon, but rather their core motivation as individuals. Anyone can try to ride the bandwagon of 'freedom of speech' and 'liberty', and expose 'secrets', but if that individual is nothing more than a poor imitator who tries to punk the MAN for shits and giggles, he might find himself being slapped around by reality. Snowden and Assange really does exemplify this well.

Think how incompetent and naive individuals could ruin a good cause simply due to their ignorance. Even worse, they delude themselves into thinking they are somehow pillars of morality while not even having an inkling of what those ideals entail in terms of dedication, proper understanding of real balance of power, and empathy to those who truly suffer in silence. All anyone can see is shallow and frankly pathetic self-congratulation of individuals who know nothing beyond their masturbatory delusions of moral high ground.

Have those 'revolutionaries' go and dig deep into the archives of KGB and SVR-FSB, or better yet, MSS. Let's see how fast they pull out when they realize there are those who don't give a shit about even a veneer of human rights.

I am being a realist about acknowledging the characteristics of the situation at hand. If you think you should just brand something as 'paranoid' because it makes you feel uncomfortable, I think you may have a VERY wrong idea about what it means to truly deal with a situation. If you can't face something like this without giving into feeling vulnerable enough to run away, maybe you are not cut out to deal with it in the first place.

It's a problem precisely because it is seemingly insurmountable. Not all problems are solved by walking down the red carpet laid out in front of you and is obvious to anyone with one eye open. You are supposed to break through such obstacles, not brand it as 'evil' and book it the first chance you get.

[Lethn]

I don't brand anything as evil, I'm just pointing out what I see and as far as I'm concerned both sides are just as bad, also if I didn't have the balls to cope with the situation I wouldn't be in Bitcoin and be like a lot of people out there right now about it.

[Honeypot]

I could go into the numbers of Iraqi and Afghanistan civilians the U.S government has killed but then you'd go into denial even more oh and then there's the fact that your guys 'accidentally' shot British troops without bothering to check whether they were friendlies.

Ah yes. US government is directly responsible for the sectarian and civilian violence that has been fester in that region by their own volition even before saddam hussein came into power. It MUST be US fault that Iraqis squandered away a chance to be rid of a feudal strong man and somehow get themselves back together. No, it is always the fault of US that Iraqis couldn't pull out of the bag what other nations in worse situations achieved and more.

Direct US caused civilian casualties are less than the number of people in developed worlds dying every year from auto accidents. Out of a nation of over 30 million, that's fairly tame compared to what a real all out war could have entailed.

Afghanistan, I would love to hear you try and justify how that was even worse than Soviet invasion.


The myopia of self-righteous people who conveniently ignore all evidence to the contrary is amazing. You seem to enjoy the idea that US should be held responsible for a woman breaking her water in the middle of a warzone while ignoring the fact that those people, sovereign nations as they are, also have a responsibility not to allow some dictator wannabe to take over their nation and invade and sack two nations in less than a decade after just coming into power.

Obviously those poor oppressed people have no responsibility as a free and respectable culture. Never mind as a sovereign nation.

What the fuck is your problem with your own people and nation anyway? Are you so damn pampered that you just latch onto any shallow excuse to bitch and call that a moral right?

This is worse than listening to a self-hating jew. I think some reflection on fundamental motivation is necessary before anyone else starts thinking themselves as any kind of political revolutionary.

Edit: Balls. For Bitcoin. I heard it all. Jesus christ LOL the fuck is wrong with your head.