What If There Is A Ban

[The Cryptovator]

Let me describe how things stand right now. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are prohibited in my jurisdiction. And if you were caught here, you would have to go to jail. But what is the consequence? Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are still used by me. I achieved to the status of Legendary within the community that has been compared to a crypto-academy. Due to Bitcoin's decentralized nature, the restriction cannot stop its use. So, I have no serious concerns about the ban. But yes, a widespread ban on cryptocurrencies would have an effect on their price.

[pixie85]

You can't ban freedom and bitcoin is freedom.

Many countries tried to ban bitcoin and it didn't work so they had to change their minds. One of such countries is Nigeria that saw an increase in bitcoin use when they banned it, so they passed a bill to unban it and make it legal.

All that can be done to ban bitcoin is an exchange ban, but that doesn't work when bitcoiners have a vote and bitcoin companies pay taxes.

As they say, don't fight the tide

[tiCeR]

I mean this topic has been brought up hundrets of times already.

So let me just say this: It's gonna be a constant back-and-forth -> legislation to increase control and cencorship vs innovation to protect privacy and freedom.
Subtle attempts to control crypto and Bitcoin specifically will be more efficient and are more scary than direct bans - because these things can happen unnoticed to the majority of Bitcoin users, which is far more scary than direct attacks (which would probably have an opposite effect because there would be a lot of resistence in freedom based societies).

On top of that it never happened that all countries around the world agreed on something and even if they officially do, most of them won't stick to it as the incentive is too big to resist. If the entire crypto industry gets banned in the US I am sure it won't take long until some other state will announce the most welcoming legislation and regulation, incentivizing an innovative industry to just completely move to another country.

No matter how hypothetical or even realistic OP's idea might be, we will never ever see a situation where there is no place to go for the industry.

[goldkingcoiner]

There is only one case where bitcoin can be banned, and that is all governments join forces to ban bitcoin, there is no other way. But unfortunately, the world won't work that way, this world is multipolar. The US is the largest and most influential country in the world, but not everyone follows and follows them. If they had enough power, they could have stopped the war between Russia and Ukraine. Even if the US bans bitcoin, there will always be other countries accepting bitcoin, as long as they see the benefits of bitcoin. National interest always comes first.

I agree. The most likely way that Bitcoin could perhaps be banned is if every country in the world became a global dictatorship under a single unified ruler. But to be honest, even then we would protest, build our own networks and Bitcoin might even then be kept alive. We would risking everything for freedom but I think humanity has proven time and time again that even in the cruelest dictatorships there will be those who stand up and do whats right.


I do not doubt that even in North Korea there exist groups of people who mine their own version of Bitcoin without government approval or oversight.

[South Park]

We all agree we're living in a crazy world and what's far worse is that it is managed by a bunch of clowns..
So, let's think wildly, one day US were to further increase the censorship just like some of the other countries in the world, they ban bitcoin, they ban VPN, they pass legislation for those who mine/trade/spend btc will be sent to jail.
(Let's not say it's not going to happen. It can! You never know just like you would never have known that there's a war in 2022.)

Other countries start to follow.

Where will you be and what kind of life will it be and how is it going to impact yours?

It is true that anything can happen but we need to wonder what could cause such an aggressive change of posture by the US government? And I suppose such a change in posture could happen if they finally realize they are losing control of their economy and the strength of the US dollar was diminishing at an amazing rate, at that point even regular people will notice what is happening and will begin to adopt other currencies to save what they can from their wealth, so those measures could be put in place by the US government to stop this but at that point it would be too late to do anything and many people will keep adopting bitcoin even if it was illegal at that point

[bittraffic]

We all agree we're living in a crazy world and what's far worse is that it is managed by a bunch of clowns..
So, let's think wildly, one day US were to further increase the censorship just like some of the other countries in the world, they ban bitcoin, they ban VPN, they pass legislation for those who mine/trade/spend btc will be sent to jail.
(Let's not say it's not going to happen. It can! You never know just like you would never have known that there's a war in 2022.)

Other countries start to follow.

Where will you be and what kind of life will it be and how is it going to impact yours?

It is true that anything can happen but we need to wonder what could cause such an aggressive change of posture by the US government? And I suppose such a change in posture could happen if they finally realize they are losing control of their economy and the strength of the US dollar was diminishing at an amazing rate, at that point even regular people will notice what is happening and will begin to adopt other currencies to save what they can from their wealth, so those measures could be put in place by the US government to stop this but at that point it would be too late to do anything and many people will keep adopting bitcoin even if it was illegal at that point

This is just for the discussion that it will happen but their government is trying to get ground to where they could control even just in the US.
If it does happen, the rest of the world will adopt Bitcoin and US will lose more in crypto innovation. Its been foretold by many youtube channels already since the time they crackdown crypto and the regulations that are far from being finished.

The Paxos case alone might actually end well which the Paxos AFAIK will fight back against SEC.

[JoyMarsha]

We all agree we're living in a crazy world and what's far worse is that it is managed by a bunch of clowns..
So, let's think wildly, one day US were to further increase the censorship just like some of the other countries in the world, they ban bitcoin, they ban VPN, they pass legislation for those who mine/trade/spend btc will be sent to jail.
(Let's not say it's not going to happen. It can! You never know just like you would never have known that there's a war in 2022.)

Without first considering how a ban on bitcoin might impact its population, the USA cannot completely censor the usage of bitcoin, if that is what is required.

Other countries start to follow.

That is impossible in this situation. Even if the United States prohibits bitcoin, other nations won't do the same simply because the United States did. The entire world is becoming savvier about not blindly accepting or rejecting everything the United States says. Nowadays, nations legalize things that will benefit their citizens regardless of what other nations are doing to prevent it. Consider the lifting of the ban on Bitcoin.

Where will you be and what kind of life will it be and how is it going to impact yours?

There isn't much that can be done about that other than to accept it as good luck and move ahead. Something else more powerful might be created in the future. Bitcoin will not be the last most powerful tool to be created in the world if it is successfully banned completely. I know that's impossible to accomplish though because of the anonymous nature of bitcoin

[Fivestar4everMVP]

If the US was ever going to ban crypto, they would have done it since before now, so personally, I wouldn't want to bore myself with such negative thoughts as to what could happen to me or my finances if the US ban crypto, they know better and wouldn't, if they had any plans of banning crypto or bitcoin, they wouldn't be giving operational licenses to crypto currency exchanges like binance, to operate in their jurisdiction in the form of Binance.us, coinbase and other top exchanges that are regulated by the US regulatory authorities.

[Cookdata]

We all agree we're living in a crazy world and what's far worse is that it is managed by a bunch of clowns..
So, let's think wildly, one day US were to further increase the censorship just like some of the other countries in the world, they ban bitcoin, they ban VPN, they pass legislation for those who mine/trade/spend btc will be sent to jail.
(Let's not say it's not going to happen. It can! You never know just like you would never have known that there's a war in 2022.)

Other countries start to follow.

Where will you be and what kind of life will it be and how is it going to impact yours?

Wait, before I answer some of your questions, why on earth would anyone hate bitcoin that much to implement these restrictions? This is just like killing the internet and expected the citizens to act like you want, more like detectorship and anarchy.

Now coming back to your question, the last I check, the world doesn't revolve round the US alone, they have the resources and investors especially the institutional ones that will help bitcoin grow and get recognitions but it doesn't mean if US doesn't allow it strive in their region, it will stop growing in another place. Look at Hong Kong for example, the Chinese government has ban bitcoin more than I can count but as of today, they seems to be making adjustable shoulder for its citizens and bitcoin, you know why they allowed that, there is no assets like bitcoin and there will never be.

[Oilacris]

We all agree we're living in a crazy world and what's far worse is that it is managed by a bunch of clowns..
So, let's think wildly, one day US were to further increase the censorship just like some of the other countries in the world, they ban bitcoin, they ban VPN, they pass legislation for those who mine/trade/spend btc will be sent to jail.
(Let's not say it's not going to happen. It can! You never know just like you would never have known that there's a war in 2022.)

Other countries start to follow.

Where will you be and what kind of life will it be and how is it going to impact yours?

They can ban all they want since we do know that the world doesnt only have one country on where it is running, there are tons.We've seen some countries had already banned out Bitcoin but what happened? Yes, it did make out some huge correction or significant dump but still it do able to recover out on a period of time which does mean that Bitcoin or crypto overall
does have that solid support.

Government doesnt really like crypto in the first place.It is really just that they cant do something into its existence no matter how they would be cracking it out literally.
This is why they would be focusing into other angle and this is why they do touched up any services that do really gets involved with crypto.

[Stedsm]

Banning Bitcoin is like banning tobacco or alcohol, which they (the governments) can't do ATM because they know how far we have come with this asset class and they have good means to earn some taxes out of this. Next is, there have been countries that believed that those countries that have banned crypto to be used by their citizens, are not only preventing their citizens to make the complete use of their rights but also have taken a decision that might economically put them backward in the future, so welcoming this class with both hands will only give these countries a new way to explore this great technology that comes with countless opportunities and newer categories one by one.

[ultrloa]

We all agree we're living in a crazy world and what's far worse is that it is managed by a bunch of clowns..
So, let's think wildly, one day US were to further increase the censorship just like some of the other countries in the world, they ban bitcoin, they ban VPN, they pass legislation for those who mine/trade/spend btc will be sent to jail.
(Let's not say it's not going to happen. It can! You never know just like you would never have known that there's a war in 2022.)

Other countries start to follow.

Where will you be and what kind of life will it be and how is it going to impact yours?

Yes there's an impact especially when we are use to have earnings on crypto for sure it can affect us badly. But we cannot do anything with this is if government give a shot call about banning crypto and put a big penalties when there are people illegally use this.

Its hard implementation but I guess we need to move on and find legal space where we can earn money again.

[ChiBitCTy]

This is a pretty popular topic that's been proposed quite a few times over the years on this forum.  The truth of the matter is bitcoin can't be stopped, not fully anyhow.  If there is a "ban" on bitcoin, I suppose it all comes down to how bad this ban is first of all, next if it's say the US "banning bitcoin" then it's going to absolutely put a hurting on it's "bottom line".  If US regulators restrict the US of US citizens from operating on exchanges, that's going to sink it's value, but it'll come back under new leadership eventually.

[nioctib_100]

There will never be an outright ban ever since big corporations began to understand crypto (and how to profit from it). It's certainly possible though that certain sectors of crypto could be banned or heavily regulated to the point of no real mainstream use. Staking seems to be next up on the chopping block. I give it 3-5 years before there's a major push to ban, license, or cap mining due to the environmental costs of it, or perhaps due to electricity shortages. Heck, if it's rationing electricity during shortages, I bet we'll see certain countries push for mining bans quite vocally within the next year. It's good we got through this past winter, but if next winter is tough on electricity prices and supply again, it won't look good.

[Ayers]

If the US was ever going to ban crypto, they would have done it since before now, so personally, I wouldn't want to bore myself with such negative thoughts as to what could happen to me or my finances if the US ban crypto, they know better and wouldn't, if they had any plans of banning crypto or bitcoin, they wouldn't be giving operational licenses to crypto currency exchanges like binance, to operate in their jurisdiction in the form of Binance.us, coinbase and other top exchanges that are regulated by the US regulatory authorities.

It could still happen in the future if they don't get any benefit from bitcoin, but it's not a serious problem that can't be solved. If the US bans bitcoin, it will definitely seriously affect bitcoin, but over time bitcoin still recovers and thrives again. Like China's bitcoin ban in the past, this ban hit hard but failed to kill bitcoin. The bitcoin network is scattered around the world, not centralized in a single country, so banning it is almost impossible.

[peter0425]

Banning Bitcoin is like banning tobacco or alcohol, which they (the governments) can't do ATM because they know how far we have come with this asset class and they have good means to earn some taxes out of this.

this is , and not only they cannot do ATM but instead they can not do all time , people will bring civil war if this will be implemented worldwide.

this is how bitcoin showing the world now lol.

Next is, there have been countries that believed that those countries that have banned crypto to be used by their citizens, are not only preventing their citizens to make the complete use of their rights but also have taken a decision that might economically put them backward in the future, so welcoming this class with both hands will only give these countries a new way to explore this great technology that comes with countless opportunities and newer categories one by one.

with respect and concern , I believe that only few countries will have this banning but not totally the universe against this.

[BALIK]

There is only one case where bitcoin can be banned, and that is all governments join forces to ban bitcoin, there is no other way. But unfortunately, the world won't work that way, this world is multipolar. The US is the largest and most influential country in the world, but not everyone follows and follows them. If they had enough power, they could have stopped the war between Russia and Ukraine. Even if the US bans bitcoin, there will always be other countries accepting bitcoin, as long as they see the benefits of bitcoin. National interest always comes first.

They might not jointly and completely ban bitcoin. But they can damage very badly the community and the network. And this might be very likely to happen and when it does happen, the price of bitcoin will go dramatically down to probably few thousand if not hundred.

No, don't tell me 1btc=1btc. It is not when btc adoption is very very low. (although we hope we can live in a society where btc is the money we spend).

It is true that they will cause a lot of damage to bitcoin and the crypto industry, if that happens, maybe the market will return to the original starting line. But in the end, they don't kill it, as long as it doesn't die and there are always supporters like us, then bitcoin will recover and grow again. Remember what China did, and bitcoin has recovered since then, and what's even better is that since then, bitcoin has been virtually immune to news from China. We need bitcoin, bitcoin doesn't need us because if we don't need it, there will always be someone else using it.

[ethereumhunter]

If it only happened in the US, I guess people from different countries would still be using bitcoins and trying to profit from bitcoins. But it would be different if all countries banned people from using bitcoin and that would cause bitcoin to crash. And as long as my country allows people to use bitcoin, I will continue to use it and find out which exchanges are accessible in my country. And I will not stop looking for and benefiting from bitcoin because it is from crypto that I can make money.

[lixer]

We all agree we're living in a crazy world and what's far worse is that it is managed by a bunch of clowns..
So, let's think wildly, one day US were to further increase the censorship just like some of the other countries in the world, they ban bitcoin, they ban VPN, they pass legislation for those who mine/trade/spend btc will be sent to jail.
(Let's not say it's not going to happen. It can! You never know just like you would never have known that there's a war in 2022.)

Other countries start to follow.

Where will you be and what kind of life will it be and how is it going to impact yours?

Although the odds of that happening are pretty low, but as you said, that could happen knowing that central authorities don't really like seeing things that they can't have control over. But, as we already know that there are some big countries that have already started openly supporting Bitcoin and blockchain technology, so that's a positive which makes us believe that it will at least stay.

For me, I wouldn't really be affected that much even if Bitcoin is totally made unreachable for me. My principles don't allow me to invest everything that I have or that I earn into one single asset or investment plan. So even if one of my investments fail, I will still do pretty good.

[John Abraham]

This is an old meme. But, Whenever I see this one. I laugh at crypto bans. Surely there will be some panic in the market, which will also affect the market. But Hey, You are in 2023. The government is nothing without you. Bitcoin is spreading day by day, and people understand its benefits. If big countries ban Bitcoin, I don't think every country will follow them. Others will try to get benefit from it. China banned Bitcoin and mining plenty of times. Still, we saw a massive ATH in 2021. Such things will happen. But, Remember, Bitcoin has a limited supply. There will be scarcity, and everyone won't own Bitcoin at some point.