Cryptocurrency restrictions in some countries is a blessing in disguise.

[AmoreJaz]

Restriction of a country on Bitcoin will only pave the way to underground activity. I do not think it can cater to more adopters than when a country openly accepts Bitcoin.  Unless cryptocurrency does harm, it will never be a blessing in disguise if it is restricted to any country.  @OP You can sweet lemon the thought but it will never be better if a country accepts Bitcoin legally.

they will soon find out that it is better to regulate this market rather than be strict about it. as this will continue its activity even without them. so why not get something out of it via taxes rather than let them operate underground?
and with the digital revolution that we have nowadays, i don't think they can totally restrict this kind of progress over the net.

[Cryptomultiplier]

While the topic sounds interesting, I couldn't quite highlight the underlying reason why cryptocurrency restrictions is a blessing in disguise.
It is restricted because if made acceptable at once, the economy of the country would be affected and there would be a sudden collapse of the economy and rise of interest rates to combat the ease at which things is afforded.
It's a blessing to those who understand and can use it for trading, earning and payment purposes.

[anjiitem]

2; Unemployment, where there is high rate of unemployed people, especially the youth, they will see bitcoin trading as a source of earning income.

I think some of the points you convey are true, but I find it a little strange and I don't think it's quite right when I look at your second point.
Although Bitcoin Trading can be a source of income for someone, but we are know trading is not an easy thing to do and is not a good source of income and is very risky for an unemployed person.
Trading requires capital to start and how can that be if someone is unemployed and has no income? If they get or there is certain capital and even then limited and it was definitely not money they could afford to lose..
Then trading will always be faced with the risk of loss, so how can an unemployed person overcome this risk of loss?. Precisely it will worsen his financial condition.

[ChiBitCTy]

To me this biggest blessing in disguise is when it comes to bitcoin being used in countries where it’s banned because it just underlines the importance of a decentralized currency more than ever. The whole point of bitcoin is giving power back to the people, and who needs that more than those under an oppressive regime.

[n0ne]

Restriction of a country on Bitcoin will only pave the way to underground activity. I do not think it can cater to more adopters than when a country openly accepts Bitcoin.  Unless cryptocurrency does harm, it will never be a blessing in disguise if it is restricted to any country.  @OP You can sweet lemon the thought but it will never be better if a country accepts Bitcoin legally.

Agreed, it is possible to see good number of people staying away from cryptocurrency just because it isn't legalised within the country. Even now people have the understanding that Bitcoin is developed for the purpose of terrorism and illegal needs. This keeps them away and to avoid such occasions, legalizing could help with the better adoption.

[ultrloa]

Restriction of a country on Bitcoin will only pave the way to underground activity. I do not think it can cater to more adopters than when a country openly accepts Bitcoin.  Unless cryptocurrency does harm, it will never be a blessing in disguise if it is restricted to any country.  @OP You can sweet lemon the thought but it will never be better if a country accepts Bitcoin legally.

Agreed, it is possible to see good number of people staying away from cryptocurrency just because it isn't legalised within the country. Even now people have the understanding that Bitcoin is developed for the purpose of terrorism and illegal needs. This keeps them away and to avoid such occasions, legalizing could help with the better adoption.

For sure many people will follow their government if they restrict cryptocurrency and this will never be a blessing to crypto as a whole since it can limit the usage of this asset in that country. We can say its a blessing if government is openly accept crypto since we can assure that we can use it anywhere and we can cashout anytime we want. Maybe @OP didn't experience yet the worse about restriction that's why he can say that and if crypto is restricted for sure he's movement using that is so limited.

[libert19]

Precisely same thing happened here in India few years ago with the Reserve Bank Of India's (RBI) banking ban. Symptoms and effects were similar to what you mentioned however adoption was thwarted a lot — trading volumes dropped heavily, some exchanges closed the doors, individuals migrated overseas to crypto-friendly jurisdictions like UAE. Later ban was lifted but with heavy tax imposed.

During the duration of ban, we saw rise in P2P exchanges but it also caused increase in scams, having no proper regulation in place it was hard to fight against scammers.

In one type of P2P scam in which I was victim of, you create a sell transaction, scammer sends you money, you confirm that you received the money— only to have the scammer initiate a chargeback. Now, If you were to report this transaction as crypto-related to your bank, they would hold you responsible for the incident since it was crypto-related and they are not supposed to deal with crypto-people as ordered by central bank and will happily opt to close your bank account instead of doing something about scammer.

It wasn't a blessing at all here.

[Gozie51]

Thanks to P2P which has widely gained ground as a decentralized means of transactions and reliable exchanges like Binance and Remitano, bitcoin users are increasing everyday.

You still gotta ask yourself how big the growth would be if there was no ban. Because bans can deter a lot of potential users who are scared to break the law. And also you gotta consider the possibility of crackdown on p2p exchange. The government might order banks to monitor for activity that looks like exchanging crypto and to ask their customers to explain the source of their money.

From what Op said the P2P is an effect that grew more because of the ban or restrictions of bitcoin trading and I think the market would have had more positive growth if the restrictions were not there. In Nigeria like the op was making reference to, before the restrictions bitcoin was beginning to be discussed on the street and many youths were proud to identify themselves as bitcoin hodler (at least some fraction of it) or learning how to trade or somesort but now they are restricted and avoid to publicly speak loudly about it. So they rely on P2P platforms more which would have grown the Nigerian adoption faster than it is now.

2; Unemployment, where there is high rate of unemployed people, especially the youth, they will see bitcoin trading as a source of earning income.

I agree with you on this. I think unemployment is a huge factor driving more people and the youths in search of source to sustain.

[Kelward]

To me this biggest blessing in disguise is when it comes to bitcoin being used in countries where it’s banned because it just underlines the importance of a decentralized currency more than ever. The whole point of bitcoin is giving power back to the people, and who needs that more than those under an oppressive regime.

You really got the essence of this thread, because you recognized that despite the CBN ban, the adoption of bitcoin in a country like Nigeria, keeps increasing. So despite all the negative image that was painted about bitcoin, that it is used to sponsor terrorism and a means of money laundering, still the number of users keeps increasing. Therefore if you look at it from this perspectives, you can agree that the ban aroused people's curiosity, and they're keying into bitcoin everyday. So this can be said to be a blessing in desguise, because instead of diminishing the interest of bitcoin, more people are adopting it.

For clarity purpose, Nigeria, has not ban bitcoin, it is the central bank, that restricted banks from engaging in bitcoin transactions.

[Gozie51]

For clarity purpose, Nigeria, has not ban bitcoin, it is the central bank, that restricted banks from engaging in bitcoin transactions.

It was all political to say the fact at that time the government in power felt btc transfer was being used against them to fund #endsars protest. After that protest , the government traced those accounts that were registered with binance and link them to their fiat bank account and saw they were Nigerians who sent btc to finance the protest against police brutality. So that was the genesis of how they restricted those accounts.

[Lorence.xD]

Precisely same thing happened here in India few years ago with the Reserve Bank Of India's (RBI) banking ban. Symptoms and effects were similar to what you mentioned however adoption was thwarted a lot — trading volumes dropped heavily, some exchanges closed the doors, individuals migrated overseas to crypto-friendly jurisdictions like UAE. Later ban was lifted but with heavy tax imposed.

During the duration of ban, we saw rise in P2P exchanges but it also caused increase in scams, having no proper regulation in place it was hard to fight against scammers.

In one type of P2P scam in which I was victim of, you create a sell transaction, scammer sends you money, you confirm that you received the money— only to have the scammer initiate a chargeback. Now, If you were to report this transaction as crypto-related to your bank, they would hold you responsible for the incident since it was crypto-related and they are not supposed to deal with crypto-people as ordered by central bank and will happily opt to close your bank account instead of doing something about scammer.

It wasn't a blessing at all here.

Scammers would literally anything to take advantage of the people in any situation. They are actually smart for that knowing the fact that banks can't do anything about the money losses involved in crypto since it's decentralized. It's like in my case where I tried to open another bank account and they asked me what's my source of income with a huge amount of money to be save in the bank, and I told them crypto which they didn't accept. This ban is literally not a blessing as it gives more people hassle to explore and find alternative just like the P2P. Even if we say that we could do like VPN thing but some connections are not compatible in other signals. Government literally see it as a threat so they are not welcoming crypto industry.

[WatChe]

I don't see the Nigerian government's anti-crypto position as causally related to the active usage of Bitcoin by the Nigerian people. A ban is not a blessing in disguise. It's an obstacle, but one that can play out differently in practice. The way I see it, people in Nigeria use Bitcoin in spite of the government's efforts to restrict its usage, pretty much ignoring the restrictions and doing their own thing. And it's a shame when those in power don't see the potential of their own nation to live and prosper, the effort of regular people to boost their economy. I hope that Nigeria will manage to get more adequate leaders in the future, those that will follow a clearly amazing nation of this country.

It's not only Nigeria government mentality but all governments have sams anti position on bitcoin since its challenging there financial supremacy. Why would any government allow something that will take control away from them? Pakistan government has also placed ban on cryptocurrency claiming that its used for money laundering. But in reality more money laundering is done by people in power using fiat.

[Doan9269]

These are some of the factors that can be responsible for the increase in the number of bitcoin adoptors in countries that have restrictions.
1; Curiosity, naturally people are inquisitive to know why they are restricted to do certain things, therefore the more they learn about bitcoin and it's advantages, they will engage in it and tell others.
2; Unemployment, where there is high rate of unemployed people, especially the youth, they will see bitcoin trading as a source of earning income.
3: Alternative source of income, they can trade and invest in bitcoin, without loosing their day job.
4; Convenience, they can stay in the comfort of their homes and engage in bitcoin speculation and earn money.
5: Innovation, using a globally accepted decentralized digital currency, that has no boundaries like centralized fiat, gives more freedom and privacy to the users.
With these and other related reasons makes bitcoin adoption to be increasing everyday, despite all odds. This is the reason why countries like Nigeria, has one of the fastest rising bitcoin adoption in the world today.

Maybe i should say this from my own view that the highlighted points here would have been more possible and advanced than this if the government also contributed in their support for bitcoin, but despite their insurbodinate attitude, the bitcoin network keep increasing and irresistible, there's nothing that can be done by the government concerning this than to watch and continue to see the bitcoin massive adoption growing each day, truly, if they had supported, we could have been somewhere little higher than where we are today but still yet, that doesn't stop or limit the way people can accept bitcoin adoption.

[usekevin]

they will soon find out that it is better to regulate this market rather than be strict about it. as this will continue its activity even without them. so why not get something out of it via taxes rather than let them operate underground?
and with the digital revolution that we have nowadays, i don't think they can totally restrict this kind of progress over the net.

When the country had regulate the cryptocurrency,it had a big plan to get the tax from every people using the cryptocurrency.The most of the country government analysed it is hard to control the cryptocurrency flow in the market.The big economy like China had tried to regulate by ban all the mining setup.But the fact i people start to mine without the government knowing,this only loss to the government.By analysing this fact,some government had started to regulate the cryptocurrency now.The taxes from the cryptocurrency will help the government for scheme for poor people.

[_BlackStar]

In the end one might assume; Governments play a role in the growing interest in Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies because of regulations. I agree on that point - but as long as you don't feel threatened by regulations, you can probably get involved and buy it in some way.

Everyone is always expected to comply with government regulations or provisions regarding certain currencies or assets, including bitcoin. Legal status can be troublesome for those interested, especially if they are forced to own or adopt it even though it is prohibited.

[Ziskinberg]

I don't think it was a blessing in disguise to the countries who banned Bitcoin as this will limit them to adoption. In fact, many people wanted to invest in Bitcoin and opened for businesses accepting it but because it was not allowed, they were not going to pursue their plan. Of course, we can say it was a great opportunity for those countries that legalized crypto as they don't have any worries about someone in the authorities seizing their coins. People are comfortable when there are restrictions and the adoption grows but it was impossible to see this hapoedn in the countries that banned Bitcoin.

[serjent05]

These are some of the factors that can be responsible for the increase in the number of bitcoin adoptors in countries that have restrictions.
1; Curiosity, naturally people are inquisitive to know why they are restricted to do certain things, therefore the more they learn about bitcoin and it's advantages, they will engage in it and tell others.
2; Unemployment, where there is high rate of unemployed people, especially the youth, they will see bitcoin trading as a source of earning income.
3: Alternative source of income, they can trade and invest in bitcoin, without loosing their day job.
4; Convenience, they can stay in the comfort of their homes and engage in bitcoin speculation and earn money.
5: Innovation, using a globally accepted decentralized digital currency, that has no boundaries like centralized fiat, gives more freedom and privacy to the users.
With these and other related reasons makes bitcoin adoption to be increasing everyday, despite all odds. This is the reason why countries like Nigeria, has one of the fastest rising bitcoin adoption in the world today.

This list would be maximized if the country accept Bitcoin legally since there is no need to go and hide while participating in these activities.  @OP you are just citing the list of possible Bitcoin events if it is legalized or accepted with just some twist of words.  If Bitcoin is not restricted by the government, you will see an increase in the output of those list.  So it is still better to have Bitcoin accepted by the government than restrict it since all people who are caught participating in illegal activities may be sanctioned by the government.

[so98nn]

It is definitely going to have effect since we are very curious species and we always want something different or better than what we have. Even on personal level I am choosing bitcoin over gold investments. Initially I had this craze about buying the digital gold through wallet apps. You could buy as low as 10-20 cents and accumulate it over the time. Now someone who isn’t into bitcoin would never understand the importance of same. However, when I entered bitcoin space it made me think both of them can be bought in chunks but Bitcoin is way better in many senses. It’s volatility actually gives me more space to breath and earn more profits as I move further clearly.

On a national level it’s obviously that everyone has their own opinions and choices. But it is evident that they are choosing Bitcoin. It could be slow process but it’s seeding everywhere. :-)

[MFahad]

Yes true that most of the people do not have any desire to put money in bitcoin because in such countries bitcoin is not allowed for investment. But on the other hand most of the people don't think about legal or illegal activities and they do what they want which is not a good habit.

Without the need for illegal works there are also lots of useful applications of bitcoin which people forget to share so I think if we prefer it's good abilities and share it with others then all people will attract towards bitcoin for good revenue.

[Kelward]

These are some of the factors that can be responsible for the increase in the number of bitcoin adoptors in countries that have restrictions.
1; Curiosity, naturally people are inquisitive to know why they are restricted to do certain things, therefore the more they learn about bitcoin and it's advantages, they will engage in it and tell others.
2; Unemployment, where there is high rate of unemployed people, especially the youth, they will see bitcoin trading as a source of earning income.
3: Alternative source of income, they can trade and invest in bitcoin, without loosing their day job.
4; Convenience, they can stay in the comfort of their homes and engage in bitcoin speculation and earn money.
5: Innovation, using a globally accepted decentralized digital currency, that has no boundaries like centralized fiat, gives more freedom and privacy to the users.
With these and other related reasons makes bitcoin adoption to be increasing everyday, despite all odds. This is the reason why countries like Nigeria, has one of the fastest rising bitcoin adoption in the world today.

This list would be maximized if the country accept Bitcoin legally since there is no need to go and hide while participating in these activities.  @OP you are just citing the list of possible Bitcoin events if it is legalized or accepted with just some twist of words.  If Bitcoin is not restricted by the government, you will see an increase in the output of those list.  So it is still better to have Bitcoin accepted by the government than restrict it since all people who are caught participating in illegal activities may be sanctioned by the government.

I used Nigeria, as a case study for the thread, and Nigeria, has not banned bitcoin or any cryptocurrency, its just the country's central bank that restricted it's banks from facilitating any bitcoin transactions.  So bitcoin is not illegal in that country, so far you're not dealing through the banks. I said that it's a blessing in disguise because despite the negative image that the apex bank painted about cryptocurrency, the adoption is still going higher, especially among the youth. Although the adoption might be more than this if there were no restrictions, but for the fact that the CBN associated crypto with money laundering and terrorism, yet people are still adopting the coin everyday. It shows that despite all the negative image, bitcoin is still winning, instead of fading out in that country.