The U.S. Government Tried To Shut Down Bitcoin

[Sithara007]

The heading is very misleading. The Americans never tried to shut down Bitcoin. On the other hand, one top ranking official was asked to study about the possible methods to destroy Bitcoin back in 2011/12, when Wikileaks started to accept donations in cryptocurrency. But as of now, there is no evidence to claim that they actually went ahead with any of the methods. And to be honest, they could have easily destroyed Bitcoin in 2012, if they wanted to do that. The hashpower was very low and it was very much possible to launch a 51% attack and destroy the reputation of the coin.

[enhu]

Can't see anywhere that US tried to shutdown Bitcoin on the article, I see it as plain interpretation or something like exaggerated writings to catch peoples attention.  

It is obvious that every government is hesitant of this trending digital currency called Bitcoin.  It is also normal for every country to have a hostile initial reaction to something that they thought threaten their curriency's economic power.  So this is actually no news.  Resistance is expected but will soon be overcome by Bitcoin.  Government will choose to coexist with it because of the possibility of benefits they can get if they adopt, adapt and utilize Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrency.

I don't see anything that says they are going to shutdown Bitcoin. Forebes despite being popular are still into clickbait.

Bitcoin will be opposed there is no doubt about any government will want it not to be used by their people since its obviously a threat to national currency. US had already knew BTC long before Trump sit his office, so why now. The government didn't stop it before becomes this huge because it would seem to appear now that they are helpless in stopping BTC. The only and best thing to do is collect tax as what government had always been doing, they are good at it.

[bitgolden]

There are ways to regulate something without shutting it down tho. Like they are doing KYC for example, which means if terrorists or people who just want to launder money needs to find bunch of ID's from people and also have bank accounts of those people and send money to those places and then somehow cash them out to their own places. Its literally much simpler to just own a place and make it look like its more successful than it is, car wash comes to mind (thanks to breaking bad).

Bitcoin is already heavily regulated if you want to commit a crime using it, hell you can scam people out of their crypto and be fine but if you scam governments and evade taxes using crypto you will be caught and that is why people won't be using crypto for illegal activities when there are easier methods.

[MathGame]

They must be foolish for doing that. how can you shut down something that is fully decentralized? someone should please tell those geniuses that are trying to shut down bitcoin from anywhere around the world that bitcoin has a peer-to-peer decentralized network that cannot be shut down.

[3DBrushes]

I think the US government has always challenged the development of bitcoin. Well, there are a lot of reasons why they can reject it, such as increasing unwanted transactions, terrorists, and others. In fact, Coindesk has also talked about this matter. Well, if the needs of people about bitcoin increase, I think that will be the usual news. I just hope that this won't make the price of bitcoin decrease

But it is still better than countries like India where crypto is declared as an illegal tender. Government signalled all the payment processors and banks to avoid dealing with crypto. Only P2P is open now.
But yeah, USA is bad for crypto markets. They closed down Payza.

Even though those countries are against to cryptocurrency they cannot stop the users of cryptocurrency. As long as there are VPNs and other ways to bypass the banning of cryptocurrency then the users will continue to exist and they will continue using the cryptocurrency. It is an indeed challenge for the cryptocurrency user but those bans for cryptocurrency are temporary because in the future, cryptocurrency will become the king of the internet because of its technology.

Most of the users want to trade crypto to Fiat or in the end they want to earn more Fiat. If the government legally bans crypto transactions then it will take a huge hit on traders. They will be feared. Ofcourse they can use VPNs but the crypto buyers will be reduced gradually and sellers will be increased because at that time everyone wants to get rid of their cryptos.

[NathanJB]

There are ways to regulate something without shutting it down tho. Like they are doing KYC for example, which means if terrorists or people who just want to launder money needs to find bunch of ID's from people and also have bank accounts of those people and send money to those places and then somehow cash them out to their own places. Its literally much simpler to just own a place and make it look like its more successful than it is, car wash comes to mind (thanks to breaking bad).

Bitcoin is already heavily regulated if you want to commit a crime using it, hell you can scam people out of their crypto and be fine but if you scam governments and evade taxes using crypto you will be caught and that is why people won't be using crypto for illegal activities when there are easier methods.

Regulation came out much later as another option. Perhaps that is their new approach after they failed in all their previous strategies. They tried to shut it down and they failed. Perhaps they made countless of attempts, nobody is counting all their efforts. But they apparently failed every time. And here comes regulations by way of KYC, audits, and other processes that involve accreditation, licensing, and permits. These are still attempts to control Bitcoin. They shifted to this approach because they cannot totally shut down Bitcoin.

[electronicash]

There are ways to regulate something without shutting it down tho. Like they are doing KYC for example, which means if terrorists or people who just want to launder money needs to find bunch of ID's from people and also have bank accounts of those people and send money to those places and then somehow cash them out to their own places. Its literally much simpler to just own a place and make it look like its more successful than it is, car wash comes to mind (thanks to breaking bad).

Bitcoin is already heavily regulated if you want to commit a crime using it, hell you can scam people out of their crypto and be fine but if you scam governments and evade taxes using crypto you will be caught and that is why people won't be using crypto for illegal activities when there are easier methods.

banks have limitations when it comes to how much one could withdraw. different countries may have different laws regarding this but in my country we are only allowed to withdraw about less than $10K a day and banks will probably be alarmed when suddenly one person will withdraw such amount every day, probably even every month.
if someone don't want to raise suspicions he'd rather make it gradual stay stealth under the radar.

[3DBrushes]

There are ways to regulate something without shutting it down tho. Like they are doing KYC for example, which means if terrorists or people who just want to launder money needs to find bunch of ID's from people and also have bank accounts of those people and send money to those places and then somehow cash them out to their own places. Its literally much simpler to just own a place and make it look like its more successful than it is, car wash comes to mind (thanks to breaking bad).

Bitcoin is already heavily regulated if you want to commit a crime using it, hell you can scam people out of their crypto and be fine but if you scam governments and evade taxes using crypto you will be caught and that is why people won't be using crypto for illegal activities when there are easier methods.

banks have limitations when it comes to how much one could withdraw. different countries may have different laws regarding this but in my country we are only allowed to withdraw about less than $10K a day and banks will probably be alarmed when suddenly one person will withdraw such amount every day, probably even every month.
if someone don't want to raise suspicions he'd rather make it gradual stay stealth under the radar.

But don't you think $10K a day is too much for a common man like us. Why would one want to withdraw so much amount of money and risking himself by holding cash?
This limit can also protect customers from fraudsters as they can't empty someone's account completely.

[South Park]

I suspect this was the reason satoshi decided to release his project by himself and decided to not reveal his identity, anyone that tries to release their coin will become a target, and this is what caused bitcoin to thrive, it was created in a way that brought no attention from the governments and it was not given to it until it was too late, now governments are desperate, they know that bitcoin is not a threat to them now but it can be in the future and they have no power to stop it.

And since Mark is an open target unlike Satoshi, he is now invited to countless hearings. He has to appear in countless meetings and investigations and what not and not just within the US but also in other countries around the world. Satoshi was indeed a genius. He knew what is to come with his invention, and he was completely prepared for it right from the get-go. He was not someone the governments can easily track and identify.

This is why I have always believed that satoshi was a single individual instead of a team of people like some like to speculate, if bitcoin was created by a team one of those members would have talked already and revealed the identities of the rest of the group, the fact that has not happened tells me satoshi was composed of a single person working alone, which means that he is a genius and that he knew from the beginning that all of what it is happening now with Libra could have happened to him if he did not remained anonymous.

[electronicash]

I suspect this was the reason satoshi decided to release his project by himself and decided to not reveal his identity, anyone that tries to release their coin will become a target, and this is what caused bitcoin to thrive, it was created in a way that brought no attention from the governments and it was not given to it until it was too late, now governments are desperate, they know that bitcoin is not a threat to them now but it can be in the future and they have no power to stop it.

And since Mark is an open target unlike Satoshi, he is now invited to countless hearings. He has to appear in countless meetings and investigations and what not and not just within the US but also in other countries around the world. Satoshi was indeed a genius. He knew what is to come with his invention, and he was completely prepared for it right from the get-go. He was not someone the governments can easily track and identify.

This is why I have always believed that satoshi was a single individual instead of a team of people like some like to speculate, if bitcoin was created by a team one of those members would have talked already and revealed the identities of the rest of the group, the fact that has not happened tells me satoshi was composed of a single person working alone, which means that he is a genius and that he knew from the beginning that all of what it is happening now with Libra could have happened to him if he did not remained anonymous.

Satoshi knew he could even be killed if he reveal himself during that time when he was actively communicating with the team and so he didn't after all he seem to have no intention to be famous, he knew privacy is more important. i suspect he was actually a well known man from the start that is why he knew all these could happen. Mark will soon just be spending all his time attending to all these hearings. there may be more projects to be shutdown if the government will really be pursuing to stop crypto.

[Webetcoins]

We don't need to pay attention about plan of those who want to try killing Bitcoin, because that can never happen. They tried it several times but still failed. So I think we should not be afraid of their threats, we will continue to give people a good understanding about Bitcoin so they can really accept it.

Well, in that case, the government is afraid to bitcoin the reason why they want it to shut down. They can shut it down as much as they want but I do believe that they won't succeed because the government has no access to bitcoin the reason why it's hard for them to shut it down because it is decentralized and no body's own. There are still many countries adopted and accepted bitcoin especially in south Asia.

Not only USA but many other countries are afraid of bitcoin because they cannot rule it. Bitcoin is not giving all power to governments rather it is giving power to common people, to those who make investment into coins. Bitcoin could not be shut down by anyone because of the reason you have discussed already. It is decentralized.

[bitcoinst]

Bitcoin is not subject to control, at least in the usual understanding of control.

It is foolish to think that the governments of other countries will be able to somehow block Bitcoin, for example, by making it outside the sign, imagine how the price rises.
In one of the African countries, there was already a precedent, the price of bitcoin there rose to $ 50,000.

However, the government can form a frightening negative image of cryptocurrency in society.

[Oneandpure]

US government want try to shut down bitcoin to raised their USD payment value, Government in the world want to allow how Unite State payment using USD, they have bilateral relations for each country with US for using USD as payment when paying for import and export product, if bitcoin have popular USD will left by investor.

[plast555]

I don't think any country's power will be enough to destroy Bitcoin. But I understand why they oppose Bitcoin. Because cryptocurrencies prevent banks and states from exploiting people. That's why it's clear that they're deeply opposed to cryptocurrencies.

But cryptocurrencies cannot be shut down. We live in a free world under free economic conditions and no one can stop it.

[SummerBliss]

It was easy to shut down the crypto market in the past when it did not gain much attention from the investors in sthe starting phase but now the market has grown vast and its impossible to decline the usage of these coins like bitcoin.The governments are really afraid of these decentralized coins on which they have no control and thats why they use different ways to nib it but they also want to implement blockchain technology in their system.But nothing can stop the growth and usage of bitcoin around the world even not the US government as they have tried earlier also and failed each time.So be positive.

[tungaqhd]

It was easy to shut down the crypto market in the past when it did not gain much attention from the investors in sthe starting phase but now the market has grown vast and its impossible to decline the usage of these coins like bitcoin.The governments are really afraid of these decentralized coins on which they have no control and thats why they use different ways to nib it but they also want to implement blockchain technology in their system.But nothing can stop the growth and usage of bitcoin around the world even not the US government as they have tried earlier also and failed each time.So be positive.

Indeed, the U.S. government was too subjective and missed the opportunity to close bitcoin at an early stage when bitcoin and the system did not receive too many major investors or any attention but only for a short time, the system and the crypto sector have been overgrown, bitcoin being the most prominent figure in this field, the shut down will face many protests and face many traders that have a great impact on the economy. Instead of trying to tightly control this system, the U.S. government, even other countries, should be flexible with bitcoin to create an additional source of profits for the nation.

[fullhdpixel]

The source is legit so i think the US really want to shutdown Bitcoin but maybe by Donald Trump demand.

Wont do be so sure about it. Trump knows the current market scenario and though he may not accept bitcoin into the government mode of payment he wont try to stop it. They more or less know who and how are using bitcoin and though they dont attempt to stop it they wont punish you for it.

They might have tried that and after several failure, I think they now want to look for a way to actually incorporate it into their own system, and I think that they will only accept it as digital asset as against using it as currency, so everything they will do in their power right now too is to ensure that they changing people's mindset towards accepting it as digital asset which they think it is even more beneficial to them as they will be able to create platforms that will make it taxable.

If bitcoin system was possible to shut down, I am sure that even countries like China and France would have joined hand with the United states to do so, but I think they have already seen it as something that is impossible which they will never even think towards that angle of shutting it down again.

[RealMalatesta]

It was still not that easy, you need only one person to keep it alive which means even when it was just 5 people using it you would have to find all of them and considering the US government failed to find just satoshi nakomoto himself, at worst case he would keep it alive himself, however that would have hurt the adoption and bitcoin wouldn't be what it is today.

It would be one of the failed projects of the past where they did tried to create something like bitcoin but failed, bitcoin would have been one of them. Leaving that aside bitcoin has created a system where everyone is the ruler of bitcoin, we are all equal in the eyes of blockchain so you can have as much power as you may think but as long as the general public doesn't support your idea it won't be changed at all, that is why decentralization is so important.

[Xxmodded]

The government has always been against anything that opposes them or they don't have control over. That have been their number one problem with Bitcoin as BTC seeks to put power back in the hands of the people thanks to its decentralized nature. What's more? In a decade alone, Bitcoin has made significant progress in terms of adoption with hundreds if not thousands of people joining every month. Not to mention lotta retail stores currently accept bitcoin as a means of payment. We even have bitcoin ATMs across several countries.

No matter what they do, They can't stop the decentralization movement!

Government want to control over with bitcoin if become legal, but when government can't control bitcoin they try for shut down bitcoin transaction and always fight with bitcoin become lower price, the power of bitcoin on investor hand and how ever many country banned bitcoin if investor trust and invest bitcoin will be on the top currencies, bitcoin have been banned in China but price bitcoin just down few days and back to higher again.

[South Park]

Bitcoin is not subject to control, at least in the usual understanding of control.

It is foolish to think that the governments of other countries will be able to somehow block Bitcoin, for example, by making it outside the sign, imagine how the price rises.
In one of the African countries, there was already a precedent, the price of bitcoin there rose to $ 50,000.

However, the government can form a frightening negative image of cryptocurrency in society.

It is likely that governments around the world are thinking about all the ways in which they can take control of bitcoin, and I'm sure that they have realized that the only way to do that is to try to do the same to bitcoin that they did to gold, they are going to do their best to begin hoarding it, this is a very slow method and it will likely rise the price of bitcoin but eventually they will end up with most of the bitcoin of the world just as is the case right now with gold.