Ways for governments to ruin Bitcoin

[meatsim]

I've been talking to a few people about Bitcoin and how it is a possible threat to current money-printing governments in that it's all distributed in the internet, hence no feds can take it down directly.

In the event that Bitcoin gets going and turns out as a currency you can actually buy food with (which I hope it will), then presumably, the political elite around the globe will be highly devoted to gain control in order to tax and so on...

So is there any feasible way for governments to stop us? They could e.g. take down Mt Gox so that people can't buy or sell BTC, but there'll be some new market place popping up somewhere else.
What are your thoughts on this?

[rezin777]

There are several threads already in progress that discuss much of what you are talking about here.

[trentzb]

So is there any feasible way for governments to stop us?

Stop? Unlikely. Tax and control it? Yep, they simply need to legalize it. By control I don't mean physical/network/transaction control but rather legislative control.

[gator]

well, the reason why bitCoin is so effective is its de-centralization. So, it is impossible for anyone, including Government to take control over it. This is why there was never a successful attempt to take over a P2P traffic or protocol itself -- I am sure Government would tax the hell out of it, and tried to control it many time before.

The only option is to shut it down, seriously. Government is not interested in controlling a currency that they cannot control, and that, unfortunately, make sense.

here is what they can do:

they can strongly push with ISPs to block the bitCoin traffic, if one can be "patterned-out" out of your traffic. But rest assured -- bitCoin ARE serious competitor to Federal Reserve, and those guys not only make up rules, they can break them as well. IF they feel enough threatened, nothing stops them from printing another $1 billion "REAL" money to invest it into "bitCoin takedown" project (hire more law enforcements, push with legislations and mobbing in us gov)

if bitCoins become a self-sufficient currency, that is you can live your live, feed your family, pay your bills, and survive a normal life without touching US-reserve printed money, then this would dismantle the US Government. I really dont see a problem with congress passing a law to make a use of bitCoins as illegal as owing illegal gun with longtime jail sentence. After all, derailing or an attempt to destabilize US Government (through a new type of currency) is an act of terrorism, and I am not joking here.
I am sure other governments will follow.

We are definitely living in interesting times...

[eMansipater]

I'll be concerned once p2p filesharing is shut down.

[randomproof]

The easiest way would be for governments to buy/mine bitcoins and keep them out of the circulation.

[Garrett Burgwardt]

The easiest way would be for governments to buy/mine bitcoins and keep them out of the circulation.

No that just makes the rest of them worth more. Yes please!

[FatherMcGruder]

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/DARPAs-THz-Electronics-Program-05440/#more-5440

[marcus_of_augustus]

Thread title should have been "Ways for Bitcoin to ruin governments" ....

[Ashpool]

Governments can ruin bitcoin by regulation.  Sure they can not shut the network down BUT they can make it illegal to receive coins or send coins.  Local business will have to conform to those rule in the legal market.  bit-coin hubs could easily be hounded out of country. 

For example in Australia I must have specific licensing to run financial services, even for non cash payments once the payments are worth over a threshold.

If I were to run something like MT Gox in Australia I would need to comply or I would be in breach of the law.

[marcus_of_augustus]

Governments can ruin bitcoin by regulation.  Sure they can not shut the network down BUT they can make it illegal to receive coins or send coins.  Local business will have to conform to those rule in the legal market.  bit-coin hubs could easily be hounded out of country. 

For example in Australia I must have specific licensing to run financial services, even for non cash payments once the payments are worth over a threshold.

If I were to run something like MT Gox in Australia I would need to comply or I would be in breach of the law.

There are so many laws now that you are almost guaranteed to be in breach of any number at any time just by being ... if they try to drive bitcoin underground it will become a campaign that will destroy "free" society as we know it.

[Stephen Gornick]

they can strongly push with ISPs to block the bitCoin traffic, if one can be "patterned-out" out of your traffic. But rest assured -- bitCoin ARE serious competitor to Federal Reserve, and those guys not only make up rules, they can break them as well.

Please read:

I’ve been playing online poker for a living for the last five years. The government might think they can shut down the industry, but they can’t. As John Gilmore famously said, “The Internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.” Poker Stars was taken down for US Players on April 15th. It’s taken me less than a week to set up a virtual private network (vpn) that makes it look like I’m playing from another country, acquire a foreign PO Box, obtain a Skype virtual foreign phone number, and deposit money onto a foreign site that doesn’t accept US players. Now I’m back in business!

As the US and other governments attempt to further restrict the online activities of their subjects (I refuse to call us citizens), I expect to see increasing use of vpns, encryption, untraceable virtual currency, anonymous remailers, etc. It’s an arms race between the factions of freedom and tyranny, but unlike most conventional arms races, this seems like one that the good guys are the favorite to win.

 - http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/86247.html

[cdnbcguy]

I think what they might do is use their immense computer resources to mine a ton of BTC (I'm talking many many blocks) and dump them all on the market at the same time, calculated in such a manner as to whipsaw anyone who tries to speculate in BTC and make the market like a bucking bronco until people just get sick of it and leave.

[mcqueenorama]

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/DARPAs-THz-Electronics-Program-05440/#more-5440

Good one!

Thx