"Governments will ban Bitcoin" and other bedtime stories

[BlackHatCoiner]

An OG has probably been hearing this since Bitcoin costed less than your lunch.

Any day now, the ban is coming.

Let me tell you why it never comes.

China banned Bitcoin. In 2013. Again in 2017. Again in 2021. The full ban. Mining, trading, everything.

Today China is still one of the largest mining countries on earth. Underground.

Turns out you can ban an exchange. You can't ban a number. Who would have thought?

Nigeria cut crypto off from its banks in 2021.

P2P volume exploded. Nigeria became one of the highest-adoption countries.  

India threatened a ban for five straight years. Then taxed it at 30%.

You don't tax what you're about to kill.

You tax what you've decided to keep.

Now do the thought experiment nobody wants to do in public.

Where does a minister in a war zone keep his kickbacks?

Cash?

Cash sits in safes. Safes sit in buildings. Buildings meet missiles.

A bank account? Frozen the day someone in Brussels adds his name to a PDF.

Real estate?

There's a registry. His name is in it. Journalists read registries for a living.

Gold?

Walk with 40 kg of gold through a checkpoint. I want to check something.

A seed phrase crosses every border on earth inside a skull.

No scanner sees it. No sanction freezes it. No missile hits it. No government confiscates it.

The ministers, the generals, the presidential nephews of every sanctioned, collapsing state on this planet figured that out years ago.

You think they're going to ban their own exit?

Iran licenses Bitcoin mining to sell energy the banks won't touch.

Russia legalized mining in 2024 and wrote crypto into its cross-border trade law.

Bhutan mines it with state hydropower.

And the United States, the empire itself, approved the ETFs, let BlackRock stack more coins for its clients than any government on earth holds, put pension money in it and watched the sitting President launch a coin while his family runs a mining company.

That is not a government preparing a ban.

That is a government building a position.

Here's the part nobody says out loud.

A Bitcoin ban doesn't ban Bitcoin. It bans YOU from Bitcoin.

The compliant you. The KYC-ed you. The guy who bought $500 on an app with his passport stapled to it.

The oligarch keeps his keys. The minister keeps his. The cartel keeps theirs.

A ban is a tax on the honest.

And game theory finishes the argument.

If Washington bans it, Dubai prices it.

A country that bans Bitcoin donates its capital to the country that doesn't.

Every finance minister on earth can do that math.

So no. There is no ban coming and the price is not dropping because of government coming after you.

The asset WILL go up, because it's the smartest invention of the century.

The question is if slaves get to enjoy the gains.  

[MarryWithBTC]

It's funny how bitcoin is making the government of some countries look stupid. They make a bold statement and still return to their vomit. They make laws against bitcoin and they break it to re-make another. They keep going bac and forth. But the good news is that bitcoin cannot be banned. According to you, they ban you from using it.

If the government of my country turns to be bitcoin toxic antagonist in the future, I'll just consider to relocate, just like China miners did in 2021.

[Dogedegen]

An OG has probably been hearing this since Bitcoin costed less than your lunch.

Any day now, the ban is coming.

I think that only in the early days was such an argument reasonable and maybe if they had understood the danger that the Bitcoin alternative poses to the system on time we would have seen an alternative path with attempts to fully ban it when it was more vulnerable. In this way we can maybe even see that the dismissive statements about Bitcoin in the early days from the media and many famous individuals kept the system in the dark about it. Not that they didn't know about it, but they completely underestimated it and also dismissed it. This maybe helped us avoid some more direct actions against Bitcoin in the early days.

Cash?

Cash sits in safes. Safes sit in buildings. Buildings meet missiles.

Cash is horrible for large value, because the maximum denomination bills have been around for a long time and their value has been decreasing rapidly. A $100 bill in the year 2000 is something completely different compared to a dollar bill in the year 2026, this can also be a way how they are sabotaging cash as an alternative.

A Bitcoin ban doesn't ban Bitcoin. It bans YOU from Bitcoin.

Amazing description, I wish that more people understood this.

[dzungmobile]

Governments ban Bitcoin, crack down Bitcoin mining, prohibit Bitcoin trading, ... many news like this appeared in Bitcoin history and the fact is Bitcoin has kept rolling and becoming stronger with time.

Only some of Government-related FUDs in history.
https://endthefud.org/governments
Critique: Government will shut Bitcoin down.

[EFS]

It's funny how bitcoin is making the government of some countries look stupid. They make a bold statement and still return to their vomit. They make laws against bitcoin and they break it to re-make another. They keep going bac and forth. But the good news is that bitcoin cannot be banned. According to you, they ban you from using it.

If the government of my country turns to be bitcoin toxic antagonist in the future, I'll just consider to relocate, just like China miners did in 2021.

Every year we hear news about a different country banning Bitcoin. This has become routine news.
Decision-makers make laws for their own interests, not for the public good. If there's a ban, there's usually an interest group that benefits from it. Some countries even change the rules in ways that let oligarchs profit both when they ban and unban Bitcoin.

You take governments too seriously. At the end of the day they're just a handful of interest groups looking out for themselves. They don't really care about the people.

[yhiaali3]

Amazingly, every time governments increase the pressure and try to ban or even eliminate Bitcoin, it rises from the ashes like a phoenix, so to speak. Indeed, Bitcoin has proven that it cannot be banned or defeated.

Governments have come to know this and know that they cannot ban or kill Bitcoin, so they have resorted to a malicious trick, trying to circumvent and contain it through third-party services and KYC and AML regulations.

[tbct_mt2]

Amazingly, every time governments increase the pressure and try to ban or even eliminate Bitcoin, it rises from the ashes like a phoenix, so to speak. Indeed, Bitcoin has proven that it cannot be banned or defeated.

Governments have come to know this and know that they cannot ban or kill Bitcoin, so they have resorted to a malicious trick, trying to circumvent and contain it through third-party services and KYC and AML regulations.

Governments are smart enough to know that they can earn a lot of money from citizens by allowing blockchain industry, cryptocurrency market develop and operate legally. They legalize these things and tax their citizens, it's how they can earn money very easily from this industry.

They also are smart enough to know that Bitcoin is a core cryptocurrency in this industry, so if they ban Bitcoin, they will kill this industry, and that means they self damage their chances of getting money from this industry.

KYC, AML, more regulations, higher tax will be what governments do in the future, but they will not ban Bitcoin.

[pooya87]

They cannot ban bitcoin because it is decentralized and censorship resistant. Not to mention global not local. If one government in one country bans it, the rest of the world won't so that ban will affect absolutely nothing. This is why it cannot be banned not because they want to use it themselves.

In fact I don't think they do. They see things differently, they want to have that full control. This is why they still go with things like gold and real estate. In your "war zone" example, just wait until things fall apart more in places like Ukraine and you'll see where they run off to and where their "real estates" are located. Hint it is not nearby to be hit by a missile.

Iran licenses Bitcoin mining to sell energy the banks won't touch.

Correction: Iran regulated mining to be able to manage their electricity consumption (we are talking about dirt cheap $0.001/KWH here) and try to stabilize the network and manage the shortage.

And the United States, the empire itself, approved the ETFs, let BlackRock stack more coins for its clients than any government on earth holds, put pension money in it and watched the sitting President launch a coin while his family runs a mining company.

That is not a government preparing a ban.

Here is another scarier way of looking at it: they don't ban it if it benefits them (the scam token pedophile POTUS created and sold) and they will not hesitate to ban it if it also benefits them.

Just think about it... what if they wanted to push something they fully controlled (eg. PedoCoin!) and saw the decentralized Bitcoin in their way? And then suddenly got the moronic idea that banning bitcoin would benefit their shitcoin?
They'll bring down the ban-hammer so quickly we won't be able to start a topic about it here

[OcTradism]

They cannot ban bitcoin because it is decentralized and censorship resistant. Not to mention global not local. If one government in one country bans it, the rest of the world won't so that ban will affect absolutely nothing. This is why it cannot be banned not because they want to use it themselves.

Governments can not ban Bitcoin that is decentralized and censorship resistant like you said.

Can government ban Bitcoin?
Bitcoin can not be banned.
Bitcoin can not be banned (2).

If they failed to censor Bitcoin transactions, how will they be able to ban Bitcoin?
Bitcoin mining pool observer. They failed with that attempt with MARA mining pool.

[X-ray]

Any attempt to ban Bitcoin has always been resulted in the country getting left behind in the crypto industry and emerge of underground market instead.

I'm expecting these government to think out of the box and facilitate the use of Bitcoin instead of banning it because clearly whatever they are doing doesn't really work.

China bans Bitcoin, now chinese people are creating their business offshore, that's a tax loss from the government side.

[m2017]

You don't tax what you're about to kill.

You tax what you've decided to keep.

But for taxation, a legislative basis needs to be prepared, and that is why these frightening tales about the ban were told.

Now do the thought experiment nobody wants to do in public.

Where does a minister in a war zone keep his kickbacks?

Cash?

Cash sits in safes. Safes sit in buildings. Buildings meet missiles.

A bank account? Frozen the day someone in Brussels adds his name to a PDF.

Real estate?

There's a registry. His name is in it. Journalists read registries for a living.

Gold?

Walk with 40 kg of gold through a checkpoint. I want to check something.

Maybe that's enough, huh? Bitcoin is already being accused of every mortal sin, and yet you continue to demonize it.

A seed phrase crosses every border on earth inside a skull.

No scanner sees it. No sanction freezes it. No missile hits it. No government confiscates it.

The only thing that can destroy is amnesia.

The ministers, the generals, the presidential nephews of every sanctioned, collapsing state on this planet figured that out years ago.

You think they're going to ban their own exit?

The laws "work" differently for them and it is not difficult for them to prohibit things for the general public.

A Bitcoin ban doesn't ban Bitcoin. It bans YOU from Bitcoin.

For it is impossible to prohibit something over which they have no control or power.

[akamit]

If one government in one country bans it, the rest of the world won't so that ban will affect absolutely nothing.

Not "absolutely nothing" imo. Bitcoin isn't going to be banned worldwide, of course, but peoples in a banned country can still have serious problems. Fiat ramps get worsen, banks refuse payments, exchanges shut, and regular users face issues when buying and selling.

So yes, while Bitcoin itself continues to function, users access and liquidity may be extremely restricted there. Users can still use VPNs and P2P, but it's not the same as before. The ban is a very real one for users in that country. Not to mention the possibility of being arrested, gossiped by neighbours, and what not...

[Zlantann]

If one government in one country bans it, the rest of the world won't so that ban will affect absolutely nothing.

Not "absolutely nothing" imo. Bitcoin isn't going to be banned worldwide, of course, but peoples in a banned country can still have serious problems. Fiat ramps get worsen, banks refuse payments, exchanges shut, and regular users face issues when buying and selling.

So yes, while Bitcoin itself continues to function, users access and liquidity may be extremely restricted there. Users can still use VPNs and P2P, but it's not the same as before. The ban is a very real one for users in that country. Not to mention the possibility of being arrested, gossiped by neighbours, and what not...

You are correct that the citizens of such countries would be affected if Bitcoin is banned. But I guess "absolutely nothing" in this context means that it wouldn't have so much effect on the global use of Bitcoin. China's negative stance on Bitcoin has not stopped the adoption and growth of the industry. People in affected countries also have the option of relocating to a friendly country if they have the means.

And the United States, the empire itself, approved the ETFs, let BlackRock stack more coins for its clients than any government on earth holds, put pension money in it and watched the sitting President launch a coin while his family runs a mining company.

A sitting president made $635m in royalties from a business that impoverished most of those who invested. If Trump were a member of this forum, many investors of his coin would have opened threads on the scam accusation board.

[elda34b]

People in affected countries also have the option of relocating to a friendly country if they have the means.

Is there a story on how someone moves from one country to another because their government ban crypto? Most of the time they're moving due to stability issues and whatnot. It's hard for me to imagine someone moving to another country just because they can't liquidate their campaign earnings, for example. Maybe we're talking about two different extremes anyway, so we should find the middle ground. What does it take for someone to seriously consider moving abroad in regards to crypto status (excluding other factors like horrible safety, corrupt government, etc).

[ImGenius]

It's funny how bitcoin is making the government of some countries look stupid. They make a bold statement and still return to their vomit. They make laws against bitcoin and they break it to re-make another. They keep going bac and forth. But the good news is that bitcoin cannot be banned. According to you, they ban you from using it.

If the government of my country turns to be bitcoin toxic antagonist in the future, I'll just consider to relocate, just like China miners did in 2021.

I think that the countries that are banning crypto are kind of stupid because if they legalize bitcoin and set a tax then the people of that country will have to pay some percentage of the tax to the government. But when country banned crypto people uses them without giving any kind of tax. There are still many countries I think they should legalize crypto very quickly.

Many excuses are given that people launder money through crypto which is why if it is legalized there are many problems on the other hand people launder money through crypto and other means while it is illegal but if it is legalized there will be many teams made by government which will be able to monitor crypto transactions and exchanges.

[Somegory]

China! It's always china who takes the lead when it comes to banning Bitcoin and those bans are foul as they only work on people of china not Bitcoin itself, there is no ban in the world that can stop Bitcoin but humans only.

Nice topic you have here OP, no ban has ever work on Bitcoin network, freezing it not to transact anymore with the Blockchain, there was a time that Bitcoin was banned in my country but people are still sending and receiving Bitcoin.

That was when I knew that Bitcoin is unstoppable, the power the government has is on its people not on Bitcoin itself.

[OcTradism]

China! It's always china who takes the lead when it comes to banning Bitcoin and those bans are foul as they only work on people of china not Bitcoin itself, there is no ban in the world that can stop Bitcoin but humans only.

There are many reasons why China was used for news, FUD like this in past years.

Because in the past, Bitcoin block subsidies were bigger than now, and Bitcoin mining industry mostly concentrated in China mainland. These things changed with Bitcoin halvings, now most of bitcoins in total supply were mined already, while Bitcoin mining hashrate became more decentralized to other nations, not mainly operated in China mainland.

The last time there was big effects from China is China mining crackdown years ago, after that there was a mass mining migration to neighborhood nations around China and other countries globally like the USA.

https://fortune.com/2021/07/17/bitcoin-mining-profits-china-crackdown-on-crypto-bitfarms-carbon-footprint/