So ... Can Goverment stop Bitcoin ?

[MadGamer]

I saw a lot of posts , some people says they can't , other says they can . (nah , not shutdown the whole internet)
Since it's Peer to peer (P2P) can't  ISP close some ports or something like that so the wallets don't work ? I'am not sure , just asking , if Anyone know , share your knowledge guys

[NeuroticFish]

I think that it's like with the torrent story.
Let's say a government bans BTC, as a network. And let's say that ISP will block, more or less some ports.


In bittorrent, there are clients that change the ports they work with (almost) absolutely random. Also they encrypt the transmission. I think that such behavior may be possible to add to bitcoin clients too.
But this is not even necessary, because bitcoin will exist in other countries. And you don't need the QT client for bitcoin. You can use multibit, you can use online wallets, there are plenty of choices.

To sum up this part: even if bitcoin is banned in a country, it will not die and people will actually be still able to use it in that country too.


Now, how some countries tried to ban bitcoin were:

* make the banks / exchanges not work with bitcoin in that country - that means that you may need to transfer your money to a friend abroad and ask him to buy BTC for you.
* punish you if they find out that you use bitcoin - may work for not really democratic countries and it's quite hard to find out unless you have a wallet on your phone or you are waving paper wallets to a cop that actually knows what's that

So.. it's not gonna happen.

[RodeoX]

I have seen countless posts claiming that the government can/will ban bitcoin. What I have never seen is a post stating how it could be done. Until someone can demonstrate how it could be done I will continue to ignore those sophomoric musings.

[AddisonZebulon]

as Bitcoin is getting it's popularity and acceptance level, it sounds a bit difficult to stop it's growing unless some shocking incidents happen 

[MadGamer]

I think that it's like with the torrent story.
Let's say a government bans BTC, as a network. And let's say that ISP will block, more or less some ports.


In bittorrent, there are clients that change the ports they work with (almost) absolutely random. Also they encrypt the transmission. I think that such behavior may be possible to add to bitcoin clients too.
But this is not even necessary, because bitcoin will exist in other countries. And you don't need the QT client for bitcoin. You can use multibit, you can use online wallets, there are plenty of choices.

To sum up this part: even if bitcoin is banned in a country, it will not die and people will actually be still able to use it in that country too.


Now, how some countries tried to ban bitcoin were:

* make the banks / exchanges not work with bitcoin in that country - that means that you may need to transfer your money to a friend abroad and ask him to buy BTC for you.
* punish you if they find out that you use bitcoin - may work for not really democratic countries and it's quite hard to find out unless you have a wallet on your phone or you are waving paper wallets to a cop that actually knows what's that

So.. it's not gonna happen.

Oh , I understand how it works now make sense
thanks for the explanation mate

[Wonka]

There will always be ways around bans or restrictions if they ever get implemented. If they can't really take down torrents then they can't take down bitcoin.

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[Yoshi24517]

That a good thing because I have a little btc, but I don't want to get punished for it.

[NeuroticFish]

I have seen countless posts claiming that the government can/will ban bitcoin. What I have never seen is a post stating how it could be done. Until someone can demonstrate how it could be done I will continue to ignore those sophomoric musings.

Everybody complains that the adoption of crypto currencies is too small. Still, instead of taking the time to give info (and repeat, and repeat again...) to the newcomers, you guys are outraged by their questions.

The banks and the government have the media on their side. We need to be more opened and help eachother.... at least with info and patience...

[brian_23452]

I saw a lot of posts , some people says they can't , other says they can . (nah , not shutdown the whole internet)
Since it's Peer to peer (P2P) can't  ISP close some ports or something like that so the wallets don't work ? I'am not sure , just asking , if Anyone know , share your knowledge guys

Well first obvious question is which government are we talking about?  There's kinda a lot of them.  Assuming you mean the federal government of the USA, I can't really see any scenario where they would try to.  If they did though yes of course they could effectively crush it as a currency, at least within the USA.  I'm not sure why there is even any doubt about that?  

[RodeoX]

I have seen countless posts claiming that the government can/will ban bitcoin. What I have never seen is a post stating how it could be done. Until someone can demonstrate how it could be done I will continue to ignore those sophomoric musings.

Everybody complains that the adoption of crypto currencies is too small. Still, instead of taking the time to give info (and repeat, and repeat again...) to the newcomers, you guys are outraged by their questions.

The banks and the government have the media on their side. We need to be more opened and help eachother.... at least with info and patience...

Perhaps I came across wrong. I think it is a reasonable question to ask. It does bother me when a poster just states "the government will ban bitcoin!!!!11!!". This poster did not do that, he did just ask a question. I was trying to answer by stating that I also see countless posts about gov bans.

I am satisfied that it is not going to happen because:
1. No way of doing it.
2. No legal authority to do it.
3. No reason to do it.

[franky1]

in the 1920's alcohol was banned.... moonshine business was still brewing

in the 19xx's exstacy was banned... many party popping  pill pushers were still popping

in the 19xx's weed was banned.. many stoners were still smoking

in the 19xx's cocaine was banned.. many stoners were still snorting

governments cannot stop technology, they can only stop people they catch from using it

[yeponlyone]

in the 1920's alcohol was banned.... moonshine business was still brewing

in the 19xx's exstacy was banned... many party popping  pill pushers were still popping

in the 19xx's weed was banned.. many stoners were still smoking

in the 19xx's cocaine was banned.. many stoners were still snorting

governments cannot stop technology, they can only stop people they catch from using it

\

Especially technology that relies on users' technology. EG utorrent..

And a blackmarket will always exist for a banned item.

[brian_23452]

in the 1920's alcohol was banned.... moonshine business was still brewing

in the 19xx's exstacy was banned... many party popping  pill pushers were still popping

in the 19xx's weed was banned.. many stoners were still smoking

in the 19xx's cocaine was banned.. many stoners were still snorting

governments cannot stop technology, they can only stop people they catch from using it

Right, but the fundamental difference there is that none of those things you mentioned require a third party to have use.  You can get drunk by yourself.  Assume for the sake of argument that the Fed bans bitcoin use in the USA.  No major retailer is going to accept them, so, apart from purchasing already illegal things (like now), what exactly are you going to do with it?  Hold on to it?  But of course, if it's banned and no retailers accept it and never will accept it, all the speculators exit the market meaning it's value plummets.  At the end of the day, a currency that can't actually be used to buy things has no value.  I imagine it would still have some small value for people purchasing other banned goods, but that's about it.

[Soros Shorts]

Assume for the sake of argument that the Fed bans bitcoin use in the USA.  

The IRS has already released guidelines on how to pay capital gains taxes on Bitcoin. You think the Feds will ban it and end this revenue stream?

[segvec]

Mr. Soros above explained best...
Logic prevails in the end.

[brian_23452]

Assume for the sake of argument that the Fed bans bitcoin use in the USA.  

The IRS has already released guidelines on how to pay capital gains taxes on Bitcoin. You think the Feds will ban it and end this revenue stream?

Of course not, as I said in my post right before that.  Hence the "assume for the sake of argument...".  The question posed by OP was not "would they" but "could they".  I believe the answer to be no, they wouldn't, but that yes obviously they could if they wanted to. 

One interesting thing though, the IRS ruling really has nothing to do with it.  The IRS has released rulings on how to pay taxes on all sorts of things that are illegal, and in fact it is a legal requirement in the USA to pay taxes on things even if they are illegal.  So their guidelines don't really tell us much about what the government intends to do anyway.

[cakir]

there are over 65k port numbers and 1k of them are reserved. So we can use over 64k different port numbers.
if ISP's block all of these ports we can figure out a new way, like the thor browser and onion links etc.

knowledge and bitcoin can't be suppressed.

[erre]

Won't several 51% attack work to destroy bitcoin?


Governments have the computational power to do a 51%attack

[segvec]

Won't several 51% attack work to destroy bitcoin?


Governments have the computational power to do a 51%attack

They would not exhaust such resources to just deplete bitcoin.

[erre]

Won't several 51% attack work to destroy bitcoin?


Governments have the computational power to do a 51%attack

They would not exhaust such resources to just deplete bitcoin.

Not today. But what if it'll really become a risk to  the economic egemony of governments?