Unfortunately bitcoin and all alt currencies in general are fighting an uphill battle against corruption/fraud/scams within its own community. Forget about governments or government regulation. There's enough scams and corruption on any btc or alt coin forum/website to make a grown man paranoid to the point of schizophrenia.
Absolutely.
So no. I don't place the blame on governments.
Well, you should.
Just ask yourself the question, why are there so few exchanges that accept money worldwide, from US and non-US people? It is easy to acccept SEPA, Swift and national transfers and send out BTC. A 12 year old can do that. It is not the technology, it is the aggression from governments, mainly USG, that stops entrepreneurs from doing that. They are afraid that one day, they will be kidnapped and abducted to the USA and spend 20 years in prison for a crimeless crime, even if they operated from a foreign country.
Or shops that accept cash and send you BTC, right away? Cash for BTC is 100% safe, all that is needed (technically) is a cash checker.
In theory there is nothing difficult about renting a small shop and doing that, then expanding to other locations to start a chain of cash-to-btc cafes. But sure enough, AML and KYC horrors will stop anyone from doing that as well.
There are BTC ATM's but even those require ID, fingerprints and so on - again that is not a technical requirement at all, technically all is needed is a cash checker and a bitcoin address.
If anonymous BTC ATM's would be everywhere, that alone would reduce scam dramatically. Only real cash for real btc, without the need for risky unknown counterparties or complicated AML procedures at an exchange.
What is holding BTC back today, is 10% private scammers and 90% government scammers IMHO
Put down the tin foil cap for a sec, bud.
I don't think you truly have a grasp of the situation.
The ONLY reason the government wants to partake in this endeavor, is because people are converting BTC to fiat, and many are not claiming taxable income on their earnings. You really think any government would be cool with their citizens selling hundreds of millions (and potentially billions) of digital currency for fiat under the books? You are truly living in a fantasy world.
With regulation comes responsibility. Right now the BTC world is still basically a huge Silk Road bubble waiting to happen. The ugly fact of the matter is that a great deal of the bitcoin users are using them for illegal methods or to attain illegal goods/services or simply scamming others out of their hard earned coins (without legal consequence)...and it's not something that is a positive contribution to society.
You can argue up and down about the government and their suppressive illuminati police state measures, but at the end of the day, we all are the ones living on their lands and using their resources. Some on here may actually claim earnings on their convert btc stakes, but I'd say a good majority don't.
And until they all do, the government will consider btc and all alts a threat to circumvent the taxation system.
We need a system of controls badly, else what happened with Silk Road and Mt. Gox will ultimately become the norm in this virtual currency world and spell its demise.