The future of Bitcoin is... regulated

[Hatchy]

I believe that Bitcoin and other digital currencies will face a choice: become part of the system that cooperates with law enforcement or lose 95% of it's investors.

Bitcoin still stands out even if such laws are implemented now or in the future. Most of the coins we have today, are Centralized. They can be controlled by the government or some freaky laws put to guide them. I don't see such thing ever happening to Bitcoin. So long we still have some decentralized platforms, where you can buy Bitcoin without going through the kyc or sharing some personal information. It's still a choice though to be under the influence of such laws. You can choose to remain decentralized or go Centralized it's a choice.

[Helena Yu]

I disagree, Bitcoin will not lose 95% of it's price if government didn't adopt Bitcoin, actually the price would be higher than now.

It's because people will trade via P2P, which make the mempool congested, resulting in high fees, and then it affect Bitcoin price because people will not want to lose their money just to pay the fees.

The government only need to not ban Bitcoin, they don't have to regulate it.

[icalical]

But we have seen until now that Bitcoin without the strict regulation of governments has survived and flourished. It surged by over 100% in 2024 with the help of pro crypto policies from President Trump, including even talks of a national Bitcoin reserve. Major Wall Street banks such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, previously quite skeptical about crypto, have now joined the sector in earnest, seeing its potential in spite of market risks.  As some investors can be comfortable because of existing rules, such are the ones that have finally made recent Bitcoin resilient and appealing because it is unique.

[Outhue]

Bitcoin isn't losing shit, the 95% of Bitcoin investors are here for another reasons, bitcoin is made decentralized and that is even why I am into Bitcoin just like some people, the part that the government can't control Bitcoin is what got me attracted to Bitcoin.

While some people are here to make life changing money by holding Bitcoin for the long term, the others are here to use Bitcoin as store of value, I don't see any regulation happening ever, Bitcoin will stay decentralised and nothing can change this.

[Alone055]

I believe that Bitcoin and other digital currencies will face a choice: become part of the system that cooperates with law enforcement or lose 95% of it's investors.

And who exactly is going to do that "cooperation" with law enforcement? Bitcoin runs on a decentralized blockchain, it runs with PoW and blocks are mined by miners without them having any control over the users making the transactions or their identities. How is the law enforcement authorities or the government going to regulate this system in the first place? They can regulate centralized services and systems but not something like bitcoin blockchain.

And how are they going to make investors lose 95% of their investments?   Your questions are confusing. The government or the law enforcement can't dictate the price of Bitcoin, and besides, Bitcoin isn't a local thing, it's global, and with one government creating regulations it wouldn't cause enough damage to cause a price drop of up to 95% or something.

[franky1]

I believe that Bitcoin and other digital currencies will face a choice: become part of the system that cooperates with law enforcement or lose 95% of it's investors.

And how are they going to make investors lose 95% of their investments?   Your questions are confusing. The government or the law enforcement can't dictate the price of Bitcoin, and besides, Bitcoin isn't a local thing, it's global, and with one government creating regulations it wouldn't cause enough damage to cause a price drop of up to 95% or something.

he is confusing known things about ethereum and he is failing to pretend they apply to bitcoin

since ethereum switched to PoS it lost 95% of its underlying value support bottom. meaning it is being bubble speculated 20x above its real price itt should be post-switch

he however does not understand economics of the differences between bitcoin and ethereum so he just grabs stats of ethereum and then talks about it as if its about bitcoin..
same goes for the US regulations.. ethereum is currently still in the young(under 6month) zone of regulatory coverage, so he talks about the ethereum regulatory discussions and then thinks he can say its about bitcoin.. so he is again switching currency knowledge and also out of date knowledge(by 6 month) to pretend everything discussed about ethereum applies to bitcoin

bitcoin has already had ETF regulatory acceptance for 12 months, ethereum only 6 months
legiteum has alot to learn and alot to apply to the right currencies economics and also needs to catch up

ethereum is slowly losing its peg that held it up (average 1btc:15eth 2021-2023.. now its 1btc:30eth) due to the ETH regulatory acceptance now depreciating the peg

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

I realize there are "Bitcoin OG" or "hardcores" here that feel that a centrally-regulated Bitcoin goes against everything it originally stood for, but if people are given a choice between that or their investment going down by 95%, they are going to... let the government do what it wants .

For me, this portends more and more regulation around Bitcoin and other digital currencies--and the era where criminals can successfully use these products coming to an end. This will be very good for the price of Bitcoin in the long run--which is another reason why it will happen.

Similar thoughts have been talked about here on the forum about the government to regulate Bitcoiner in the future, but if you must know, they (government) can only try to regulate some Bitcoiners but can never regulate Bitcoin because Bitcoin  is a decentralized asset. Also, the fact that you said that investors asset will go down by 95% is what I don't understand because if you think the government can crash Bitcoin that low, I doubt you mate, that's not going to be possible. Don't forget that if they do so, they will also get affected because they are also taking part in Bitcoin investment, therefore if the price drops, they will be affected as well.

In my opinion, the government can only archive to regulate Bitcoin and all Bitcoiners if they can have the total supply of Bitcoin  in their control and do you think it's possible for the government to own all the Bitcoin? The answer is No.

[Koceila]

As far as I know,the future of bitcoin is likely to be increasingly regulated as governments and financial institutions take more interest in digital currencies while bitcoin started out as a decentralized and  growing concerns over security, fraud, and money laundering are pushing regulators to create frameworks for its use. This could lead to clearer rules for exchanges and even how businesses and individuals handle bitcoin. Nevertheless too much regulation might stifle its innovation or impact its decentralized nature otherwise it will be a delicate balance between oversight and freedom.

[bestcandy]

I believe that Bitcoin and other digital currencies will face a choice: become part of the system that cooperates with law enforcement or lose 95% of it's investors.

I realize there are "Bitcoin OG" or "hardcores" here that feel that a centrally-regulated Bitcoin goes against everything it originally stood for, but if people are given a choice between that or their investment going down by 95%, they are going to... let the government do what it wants .

These days there are probably almost nobody is using Bitcoin to avoid their government, which is what it was originally designed to do: most just think of it as an investment that will yield them a profit. And they pay taxes on their gains, and/or report their holdings to their government just like they would if they bought stocks or commodities.

It's also worth noting that regulations in democracies mostly stem from some kind of crisis or emergency. When the US financial system had major problems in 2008--and millions of people lost their retirement savings--then Congress responded with lots of new regulations. The FTX scandal prompted a lot of regulations for the digital asset world, and I suspect that work isn't yet done.

And now that there are major companies buying US elections like they did in 2024, companies like Ripple, Coinbase, Binance etc. are working every day in Washington to create new regulations that benefit them and disadvantage their competitors. These companies have a financial interest in centralized control as well--even while they go on about the "anti-government" Bitcoin religion in their advertisements.

For me, this portends more and more regulation around Bitcoin and other digital currencies--and the era where criminals can successfully use these products coming to an end. This will be very good for the price of Bitcoin in the long run--which is another reason why it will happen.

Bitcoin is unique and not under regulation of any local law enforcement agencies or government policies. Bitcoin has survived all law enforcement agencies and economic policies and are not flourishing economically.
Going by the current economic trend of the world today, Bitcoin is gaining more momentum as many investors are venturing into investing in Bitcoin and many countries in the world today are also considering investing more on Bitcoin and even considering using Bitcoin as the means of their external and foreign reserve.

[Alpha Marine]

I believe that Bitcoin and other digital currencies will face a choice: become part of the system that cooperates with law enforcement or lose 95% of it's investors.

What do you mean by "corporate with law enforcement"? Is anything allowed to thrive without being in line with law enforcement? Regulation in Bitcoin is not new; it has been going on for a long time, so I don't understand how you say it's the future. Funny enough, regulations, and restrictions are reducing in Bitcoin unlike how it was before/
 

I realize there are "Bitcoin OG" or "hardcores" here that feel that a centrally-regulated Bitcoin goes against everything it originally stood for,

The way you use words is confusing. What do you mean by "centrally regulated"? Do you mean like owned and controlled by a central body which is the government or do you mean something else? If it's what I think you mean then it's not possible. Bitcoin cant be owned and controlled by anybody. They market can be manipulated a bit, but bitcoin cant belong to any single body.
Btw, which government is going to own or control it? Russia? US? China?

[legiteum]

I believe that Bitcoin and other digital currencies will face a choice: become part of the system that cooperates with law enforcement or lose 95% of it's investors.

What do you mean by "corporate with law enforcement"? Is anything allowed to thrive without being in line with law enforcement? Regulation in Bitcoin is not new; it has been going on for a long time, so I don't understand how you say it's the future. Funny enough, regulations, and restrictions are reducing in Bitcoin unlike how it was before.

I think a lot of people here are misunderstanding my OP: I should have written "MORE regulated". Bitcoin is already regulated in thousands of ways in most countries, especially the US where most of the holders are.

And in talking about regulating Bitcoin, I am talking about regulating the way people buy/sell/trade it, not the network itself (which is not necessary to regulate since it's just a technical facility).

[BlackHatCoiner]

Bitcoin is an asset. And every asset is pretty much regulated, so yes, in the future there will probably be more regulation, especially since it'll be used for foreign trade.

For me, this portends more and more regulation around Bitcoin and other digital currencies--and the era where criminals can successfully use these products coming to an end.

What "criminals"? Simply those using crypto for illegal transactions or SBF-like schemes? The former are not discouraged to engage in illegal activities because of regulations, so they will probably not have any problem in the future either.

[Alone055]

I think a lot of people here are misunderstanding my OP: I should have written "MORE regulated". Bitcoin is already regulated in thousands of ways in most countries, especially the US where most of the holders are.

If you are talking about exchanges or ETFs, those are different things. ETFs shouldn't even be in the equation because they are something else, and investing in an ETF is not like buying and holding Bitcoin in a non-custodial wallet. ETFs are regulated, and so are centralized exchanges, but Bitcoin itself isn't, and it can't be.

And in talking about regulating Bitcoin, I am talking about regulating the way people buy/sell/trade it, not the network itself (which is not necessary to regulate since it's just a technical facility).

So you should make it clear by saying you are talking about exchanges and platforms where people buy Bitcoin, and let me remind you that Bitcoin that are bought from decentralized exchanges and kept in non-custodial wallets cannot be regulated. The authorities or the government can't do anything about them, which is the beauty of this technology and why it's so unique.

[legiteum]

Bitcoin is an asset. And every asset is pretty much regulated, so yes, in the future there will probably be more regulation, especially since it'll be used for foreign trade.

For me, this portends more and more regulation around Bitcoin and other digital currencies--and the era where criminals can successfully use these products coming to an end.

What "criminals"? Simply those using crypto for illegal transactions or SBF-like schemes? The former are not discouraged to engage in illegal activities because of regulations, so they will probably not have any problem in the future either.

I tried to qualify this, but maybe I can try to find a better word next time.

What I meant by "criminals" is, "those whom are seeking to evade laws/law enforcement in their country or some other country". Clearly there are many "criminals" in the world who are fighting oppressive governments and/or are subjected to unjust or immoral laws, and being a "criminal" in that context is perfectly moral and justified. On the other end of the scale there are criminals who are stealing things from people, harming people, etc. Somewhere in the middle are those evading taxes.

As to the old (and boy do I mean old), "since laws won't completely stop crime then we shouldn't have laws because it's pointless" argument, well, it's just nonsense. By this logic we should make murder and rape legal since sometimes those offenders get away with it. You only need a few milliseconds of thinking about it before you understand how this simply wouldn't work and no human civilization in history has ever existed without some kind of set of laws.

Your example here, of course, was a pretty poor one because SBF is... in prison right now. As are thousands of others who have ripped off crypto investors. Sure, there are thousands who still roam free, and probably thousands who get away with it, but it's simply nonsense to say that laws have no affect on human behavior because they obviously do.

In the case of Bitcoin itself, if the US made Bitcoin officially illegal to hold, then 97% of today's holders would dump it. It's as simple as that. Most people don't want to break the law--even if it's a bad law. This goes doubly true if there are perfectly legal alternative products available. There is virtually no market for illegal, non-USDA-approved meat in the USA. Why? Because you can go to any grocery store and by the legal stuff and it does the exact same thing for you.

If the US made Bitcoin illegal and left other digital currencies legal (that kicked up profits to Trump for instance), then Bitcoin would lose 97% of its investors in a few hours, and the legal alternatives would be 1000x more valuable than Bitcoin.

I think a lot of people here are misunderstanding my OP: I should have written "MORE regulated". Bitcoin is already regulated in thousands of ways in most countries, especially the US where most of the holders are.

If you are talking about exchanges or ETFs, those are different things. ETFs shouldn't even be in the equation because they are something else, and investing in an ETF is not like buying and holding Bitcoin in a non-custodial wallet. ETFs are regulated, and so are centralized exchanges, but Bitcoin itself isn't, and it can't be.

I'm talking about that and the many other ways people buy, spend and sell Bitcoin and other digital currencies. All of this activity is regulated by governments in all kinds of ways already, and my theory here is that there will be even more over time.

[...]
and let me remind you that Bitcoin that are bought from decentralized exchanges and kept in non-custodial wallets cannot be regulated. The authorities or the government can't do anything about them, which is the beauty of this technology and why it's so unique.

Sure they could: a country can make it a crime to use one of these facilities. It's like saying that a government "can't do anything about" owning a pipe bomb because it's theoretically possible for one to obtain or build one regardless of the laws. Yes, this is true, but the law prevents at least 99.9% of people from doing so because if they are caught they would go to prison. And again, this goes doubly true if there are alternative products that accomplish the same thing and are perfectly legal.

I get that you all want to feel like the US (and other major) governments are powerless to stop you from doing whatever you feel like doing at any given moment, but... it's time to grow up .

[shield132]

I believe that Bitcoin and other digital currencies will face a choice: become part of the system that cooperates with law enforcement or lose 95% of it's investors.

I realize there are "Bitcoin OG" or "hardcores" here that feel that a centrally-regulated Bitcoin goes against everything it originally stood for, but if people are given a choice between that or their investment going down by 95%, they are going to... let the government do what it wants .

These days there are probably almost nobody is using Bitcoin to avoid their government, which is what it was originally designed to do: most just think of it as an investment that will yield them a profit. And they pay taxes on their gains, and/or report their holdings to their government just like they would if they bought stocks or commodities.

It's also worth noting that regulations in democracies mostly stem from some kind of crisis or emergency. When the US financial system had major problems in 2008--and millions of people lost their retirement savings--then Congress responded with lots of new regulations. The FTX scandal prompted a lot of regulations for the digital asset world, and I suspect that work isn't yet done.

And now that there are major companies buying US elections like they did in 2024, companies like Ripple, Coinbase, Binance etc. are working every day in Washington to create new regulations that benefit them and disadvantage their competitors. These companies have a financial interest in centralized control as well--even while they go on about the "anti-government" Bitcoin religion in their advertisements.

For me, this portends more and more regulation around Bitcoin and other digital currencies--and the era where criminals can successfully use these products coming to an end. This will be very good for the price of Bitcoin in the long run--which is another reason why it will happen.

Bitcoin is already regulated in many countries. A few years ago, governments were saying that Bitcoin is not a money, it's a piece of code that can't be used for buying or selling goods and since it also was virtual, they weren't setting regulations, people and companies could trade without paying taxes but slowly, as Bitcoin became popular and attracted attention of millions of people, governments saw that Bitcoin's market cap worth billions of dollars and they can't let it be tax-free because they'll lose billions of dollars income.

Today, in many countries, if you use Bitcoin or have a Bitcoin-related business, you have to register a company, get a license, pay taxes and etc... Governments also demand companies to follow strict regulations like KYC procedures. Today you can't find a difference between crypto service and fiat service, the only difference is that you use different currencies but in terms of anonymity and regulations, they are almost the same. There are still some loopholes but it will be fixed in the future.

[PrivacyG]

The world today is so dystopian it created a chain of sort of 'underground' Bitcoin users in conjunction with Monero users.  The Government can tell you what you are obliged to do but you have a choice.  You can not put Dollars into your Bank Account and transfer it to anybody without it going through a Centralized system first.  Bitcoin is different.  You may need to report a Transaction, but you can always do whatever free will tells you to.

To give you an example.  Can Russia use Banks normally?  No, they can not.  Are they allowed to circumvent sanctions?  No, in theory they are not.  Reality is different however.  They can use Bitcoin and nobody needs to accept or refuse a Transfer of theirs.

I get what you mean.  However, the best thing about Bitcoin is that there STILL are ways to avoid whatever the Government tells you to do.  They can withdraw Cash from circulation and ban it, they can refuse your request to create a Bank Account but you can not be banned from using Bitcoin realistically.

[Drnice]

The adoption of crypto currency by the government will definitely bring up different regulatory bodies that will defile the nature of Bitcoin and crypto currencies.

The adoption will yield positive price increment for the crypto enthusiasts and investors who will join the train along the line will also have portfolios filled with profits, but the regulation might not be too friendly to everyone in the space to an extent. Starting with some exchanges that will have some governmental issues, and if being seized, traders in that exchange will lose their funds.

Every crypto exchange is out for money making, but the fact of not standing as one in this regulatory affairs coming in will not really be the best, cause they will all be fighting themselves,, removing the part of best services, friendly fees for transactions, user friendly trading environment etc will all disappear, which we will be seeing more tougher crypto environment.

[dansus021]

The future of Bitcoin is ( will be regulated ) regulated I mean like it or not Bitcoin is now the part of mainstream news and one of choice to invest I mean just take a look the image that I show you. Blackrock today hold more bitcoin than the original creator of satoshi nakamoto.

When so much investor join the pool of course the government will join the market and start to regulate it. Remember when china banning bitcoin but according the data they still held some of it. Since BTC ETF approved now  the noise in the market is getting louder economic calendar have correlation to the bitcoin price and etc.

[X-ray]

I disagree, Bitcoin will not lose 95% of it's price if government didn't adopt Bitcoin, actually the price would be higher than now.

It's because people will trade via P2P, which make the mempool congested, resulting in high fees, and then it affect Bitcoin price because people will not want to lose their money just to pay the fees.

The government only need to not ban Bitcoin, they don't have to regulate it.

i think there's no inbetween when it comes to high market cap asset, it can't stay unregulated and avoid ban for too long.
on the other hand, unregulated huge asset will also eventually face scrutiny.

the future will undeniably be full of regulation, right now the regulation is still on progress in being made, but hopefully it won't be a regulation that will hinder the growth of BTC, that's my expectation at least.
if the regulation is right, I think it can even bring adoption to another level.

[moneystery]

you are making it up, how is it possible that bitcoin lost 95% of its investors when it was not cooperative with law enforcement. that is just your assumption who does not understand how bitcoin developed from the beginning it was created until now. with or without government regulation, bitcoin will continue to grow, because the reason most people invest in bitcoin is not because it is regulated, but because it can give them freedoms that they cannot get when they use banking.

bitcon does not need regulation and people also did not expect it to be regulated by the government from the beginning.