Erm why are we discussing drugs here ? Is BTCchina selling drugs now
For some reason people like to use drugs and prohibition to support an argument that the btc economy will retain the same strength even if bitcoin is banned by governments. I think drugs/prohibition and bitcoin usage is a loose and exaggerated relationship in that regard.
So do I. Financial freedom is far, far more important than using recreational drugs.
I think it might be difficult to enjoy this financial "freedom" when you're behind bars.
Try to think about the mindset of the types of Chinese traders and investors we have been seeing - the ones really moving the price who are buying up 1,000 - 10,000btc a time. He is already rich and has millions. Now he wants to find a way to increase the size of his portfolio with an investment. He sees something called 'bitcoin' which is getting very popular, has historically done very well, and seems to have good fundamentals. It has risks also but this is outweighed by the hefty rewards. So he engages because he expects that he'll probably increase his portfolio and also the worst that can happen is that he loses some.
Now things have changed. Let's say the Chinese government has actually banned bitcoin. First off it's going to more difficult for the Chinese man to get his money in - he is going to need to go through some underground channel, where is at risk of a total loss. Then once he is in bitcoin the movement is going to be a bit weaker and the fundamentals slightly less because governments are banning bitcoin. He is now in a market where the midterm trend has been down and prone to crashing. Then in order to withdraw money he is going to need to go through another undeground source where he risks total loss. During all of these steps, he is also at risk of being discovered and arrested by his government. So now an investment that was once medium risk high reward is now ultra-high risk and medium reward. There are mutliple vectors in which he can make a total loss of his money, and the worst that can happen is no longer that he loses some money but that he ends up behind bars!
Now is it really worth it for the Chinese man to continue on with this type of investment? He is already rich, and was simply looking for a way to increase his portfolio. Now Bitcoin is no longer easy to do and has a chance to land him behind bars. Even if he became successful he would have to live a life of secrecy about how he did it. He was probably never interested in being a criminal. It's a completely different situation than before. Is it really worth it to take the risk of being behind bars to continue with this avenue of investment just to increase his portolio? I don't think so. I think he'd rather just move on to one of the other investment opportinities he was looking at which might have somewhat less returns but much less risk.