Can Governments control Bitcoin through miners?

[Lloydie]

The govt could always say, we want this version of the bitcoin protocol to be run by miners, make a phone call to China, Iceland and Europe to say do the same with miners in your country or else, and try to enforce this on all the miners around the world.

After that date, if you want to be a miner, you have to be licensed.

Let's then assume a hard fork, with regulated versus unregulated miners.

What do you think could happen next?

[Bitbuy]

Do you even understand the concept of Bitcoin and it's decentralized nature??
I suggest you read up...

As for government control: only thing they can do is try to regulate it....(tax it, ban it, etc etc...)

[Lloydie]

Do you even understand the concept of Bitcoin and it's decentralized nature??
I suggest you read up...

As for government control: only thing they can do is try to regulate it....(tax it, ban it, etc etc...)

Yes, as a matter of fact I do. The government is exploring protocol changes to track coins, ban tumblers and other features. They have been discussing this with the bitcoin devs. They could force this onto miners via licensing. I.e. without a license you are not allowed to mine bitcoin. And if you mine bitcoin or any crypto, you must use their protocol.

If an alternate network pops up, they can attack it with 51% attack or mike Hearn's slow transaction attack.

This will probably cause a hard fork. The government can say that only government sanctioned bitcoins can be traded for USD. The point of weakness is miners because it is becoming so specialised in bitcoin. Of course, this is the worst case scenario and unlikely to occur in the short term or ever.

You should note that the bitcoin foundation has been co opted to help fight crime. Not sure how this works yet, but they are discussing ways to track coins.

[Cheesus]

Do you even understand the concept of Bitcoin and it's decentralized nature??
I suggest you read up...

As for government control: only thing they can do is try to regulate it....(tax it, ban it, etc etc...)

Basically this. There is no way for them to control it for now. Maybe they can buy developers team and try to regulate it from there but...

[Bitbuy]

You should note that the bitcoin foundation has been co opted to help fight crime. Not sure how this works yet, but they are discussing ways to track coins.

Ah yes, I remember something like that, some way of identifying the coins / owners...There was some uproar about this some while ago, but haven't heard anything further about this.

[BitcoinAshley]

Easy. Bitcoin's USD value would plummet as folks moved to alt-coins that did not yet have such government corruption. Wouldn't matter for merchants, because people would use the alts to store value but would move into BTC temporarily to make purchases. There would even be apps to do this quickly & instantly. Technology!

[Lloydie]

Easy. Bitcoin's USD value would plummet as folks moved to alt-coins that did not yet have such government corruption. Wouldn't matter for merchants, because people would use the alts to store value but would move into BTC temporarily to make purchases. There would even be apps to do this quickly & instantly. Technology!

That is a great point thanks.  . What kinds of Alts are people likely to migrate to?

[madmadmax]

Governments can control the flow of information, it's enough to prevent Bitcoin from ever becoming widely adopted in a world of sheeple.

[Ibian]

No.

[Lloydie]

No.

In a world of miner licensing, how do you see crypto currencies evolving? Thanks.

[Lloydie]

Governments can control the flow of information, it's enough to prevent Bitcoin from ever becoming widely adopted in a world of sheeple.

How do you see the information controls playing out? Thanks.

[Ibian]

No.

In a world of miner licensing, how do you see crypto currencies evolving? Thanks.

Another general reminder that bitcoin is global. The US is not the world. Thank you and move on.

[Lloydie]

No.

In a world of miner licensing, how do you see crypto currencies evolving? Thanks.

Another general reminder that bitcoin is global. The US is not the world. Thank you and move on.

But has sufficient influence to motivate like minded governments interested in controlling crypto.

[madmadmax]

Governments can control the flow of information, it's enough to prevent Bitcoin from ever becoming widely adopted in a world of sheeple.

How do you see the information controls playing out? Thanks.

Playing out great, people still believe the war on terrorism, still see the pride in dying for the corporate military halfway across the world, still believe 9/11 wasn't a conspiracy.

Peoples mindsets are being controlled on a wide scale with propaganda and social networks are used to generate a response from the public.

[Lloydie]

Governments can control the flow of information, it's enough to prevent Bitcoin from ever becoming widely adopted in a world of sheeple.

How do you see the information controls playing out? Thanks.

Playing out great, people still believe the war on terrorism, still see the pride in dying for the corporate military halfway across the world, still believe 9/11 wasn't a conspiracy.

Peoples mindsets are being controlled on a wide scale with propaganda and social networks are used to generate a response from the public.

I agree. How do you see the govt control info flows re bitcoin? Thanks. I'm interested to understand this.

[Ibian]

No.

In a world of miner licensing, how do you see crypto currencies evolving? Thanks.

Another general reminder that bitcoin is global. The US is not the world. Thank you and move on.

But has sufficient influence to motivate like minded governments interested in controlling crypto.

There are very few like minded governments. Don't confuse that with governments that play along because they have to under threat of military annihilation.

[Lloydie]

No.

In a world of miner licensing, how do you see crypto currencies evolving? Thanks.

Another general reminder that bitcoin is global. The US is not the world. Thank you and move on.

But has sufficient influence to motivate like minded governments interested in controlling crypto.

There are very few like minded governments. Don't confuse that with governments that play along because they have to under threat of military annihilation.

Every govt wants to control crypto.

[Ibian]

No.

In a world of miner licensing, how do you see crypto currencies evolving? Thanks.

Another general reminder that bitcoin is global. The US is not the world. Thank you and move on.

But has sufficient influence to motivate like minded governments interested in controlling crypto.

There are very few like minded governments. Don't confuse that with governments that play along because they have to under threat of military annihilation.

Every govt wants to control crypto.

No, they want to be on top of the pile. Every one of them. Bitcoin could help with that, and some nations around the world are going to risk it. For those of us planning to retire on bitcoin, it only takes one such country. And the nations we live in know it. It is not possible to get rid of bitcoin.