former COO of Square says "There is no chance that bitcoin becomes successful"

[yomofo]

http://www.reddit.com/r/BTCmarketsCirclejerk/comments/1wptci/sunday_conversation_7_keith_rabois_former_coo_of/

"There is no chance that Bitcoin becomes successful in the united states. period. end of story.  the government can end this as soon as they want to.  they'll do exactly what they did and we went through this with online gambling.  you make the penalty and make illegal the actual marketing of the product."

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[Kluge]

They could ban Square's offerings as soon as they wanted. It's called regulatory uncertainty, and everybody with any type of money-related business in the US faces a lot of it. Bitcoin faces a lot of it, but there are a good number of heavy-hitters working on compliance and opening up to US regulators and legislators, while the people who'd never comply anyway won't feel much impact from a US ban unless they hold a ton. They're working together instead of it being as antagonistic a relationship as it could've been in plenty of different scenarios. I think the hearings and talks have been fairly positive for legal businesses handling bitcoin transactions in the US, so far.

We'll probably lose a good few out-in-the-open bitcoin businesses operating in the US as regulations are clarified, further enforced, and expanded, but right now, I don't think there's any reason to worry about a blanket ban on transacting in bitcoin for the US.

[GigaCoin]

this is old. anyway in 1 month he was proven wrong when overstock and tiger direct adopted bitcoin

[dave111223]

yes cuz no one in the US gambles online anymore

[chessnut]

and if it becomes successful around the world - are you just gonna stand around and watch? incriminate your people?

[kireinaha]

hmm, well, he's right. i've been saying this for a long time. once the US government views bitcoin as a threat, they will ban it. of course, they can't shut down a decentralized network, but they will prohibit banks from processing bitcoin transactions, much like banks are prohibited from dealing with online poker tramsactions. it will be black friday again and likely unexpected when it happens. that's what they do. hopefully we have a couple years left at least until it happens.

[chessnut]

hmm, well, he's right. i've been saying this for a long time. once the US government views bitcoin as a threat, they will ban it. of course, they can't shut down a decentralized network, but they will prohibit banks from processing bitcoin transactions, much like banks are prohibited from dealing with online poker tramsactions. it will be black friday again and likely unexpected when it happens. that's what they do. hopefully we have a couple years left at least until it happens.

I think one of the major points at the NY Finance Department hearings was that the USA cannot afford to stifle innovation. This is a major point of innovation in many sectors. furthermore, the FBI is about to auction BTC to legitimate investors. would it be wise to incriminate them? Besides, the USA could only delay the ultimate outcome of a decentralised network.