If bitcoin becomes illegal?

[mc_lovin]

The more illegal they try and make it, the more people will use it.

[Frankie]

I'm not worried about the government deeming bitcoin illegal.  i expect that.

i AM worried about the US gov seizing mtgox.com like they seized the poker sites.  should Gox move to a different TLD like piratebay/demonoid?

i am worried about the US gov freezing Gox's bank accounts like they froze >70 banks accounts related to PokerStars, Full Tilt, and Cereus.

I don't expect bitcoin itself to become illegal; it's not even clear what that would mean (private keys banned when they correspond to bitcoin addresses?).

More likely the exchanges would be walled off from receiving/paying fiat. That would be a serious problem.

[gyverlb]

Lol is this true? (source please). I knew the French government was stupid, especially the latest one with their 70% income tax and plans to expropriate Total (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=tot&ql=1) but actually stating pi=4 is beyond stupid. We should invent a new word for that. 

Maybe it did centuries ago (at the end of the 18th century reforming everything was fashionable) but I couldn't find a reference. A more recent attempt in Indiana (at the end of the 19th century) is the best I could dig up :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Pi_Bill
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/805/did-a-state-legislature-once-pass-a-law-saying-pi-equals-3

Each time US people criticize French people I think of this :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty
and that we still like you today even if you forget our long friendship to focus on some old stereotypes

[wachtwoord]

Thanks for the sources!

I am Dutch btw (not US) and our government is socialistic as well (although this is least left government in a long time, to bad it already fell) but the decisions made in France are just horrendous (imo of course, but that speaks for itself).

[SysRun]

Look at prohibition for insight on how people will react. Opportunists will be opportunists.

[pyromaniac]

I think that the legalization of Bitcoin could become a bigger problem than becoming illegal. Legal using of bitcoin will result end of anonymity. Without it bitcoin is less attractive than LR, because it requires additional software.

[cbeast]

I think that the legalization of Bitcoin could become a bigger problem than becoming illegal. Legal using of bitcoin will result end of anonymity. Without it bitcoin is less attractive than LR, because it requires additional software.

Bitcoin is by far the most anonymous form of electronic payment because it is decentralized. LR is IP based and easily traced and blocked.

[johnyj]

I don't see any reason that it will become illegal in a tax free land like Bahamas

The main reason BTC could be a headache for government, is because they could not collect tax on BTC transactions, and there is no way to map the account to physical person/institute

And I think central banks don't really care about it either, what they need is a currency that they can control the money supply, in this way they can affect the macro economy the way they want (price stability and low jobless rate). A currency with a fixed supply is totally useless for them from modern economy point of view, since it neither can bring price stability nor lower the jobless rate

Actually the later could be true, if BTC price increased so much that it created another bubble, it might create many jobs, mining companys, BTC exchanges, client developers, online wallet institution, same as those gold buyers recently. In that case, if it is also good for economy, and can achieve what they can not achieve with normal monetary policy, why claim it illegal?