Fincen is your Friend and Mtgox et al will never be shut down.This is the dream that will never come true...
We will see if coinlab gets all the licenses to be able to trade bitcoins by mid may. If there are further delays, one should prepare for the war..
Topic: Government banning bitcoin?? (Read 6607 times)
So...does Bitcoin really need to go begging at the governments heel for permission to exist? Nah...stand tall and proud and defy the statist sociopaths I say. Don't provoke the beast needlessly though, a dinosaur in its death throes can be dangerous in its thrashing around 
If bitcoin owners as whole paid their taxes then the gov. would be reluctant to shutdown it down. They are not going to give up any source of money regardless. If you could use bitcoins to fund stocks and commodity trading that will give the government an even more reason to keep bitcoins legit.
See, if it were dollars, I could just reach into your bank account or your mattress, or wherever you keep them, and take them. Can't do that with bitcoins.
That's just out of practicality.
Anyone who possesses your private key has your coins.
So its more like bitcoin gives you a very strong box for holding your value and gives you a key.
This key can be taken from you and you could lose it.
Sure could. Most Western countries now have laws requiring you to hand over the keys to any encrypted data the cops want to look at.
Sure. But do they get the key to all your riches, or a mostly empty show wallet? How would they know the difference?
The thing is, this goes for any information, like the location of my pirate treassure...
And in some ways information is hard to contain, even harder than physical keys.
See, if it were dollars, I could just reach into your bank account or your mattress, or wherever you keep them, and take them. Can't do that with bitcoins.
That's just out of practicality.
Anyone who possesses your private key has your coins.
So its more like bitcoin gives you a very strong box for holding your value and gives you a key.
This key can be taken from you and you could lose it.
Sure could. Most Western countries now have laws requiring you to hand over the keys to any encrypted data the cops want to look at.
Sure. But do they get the key to all your riches, or a mostly empty show wallet? How would they know the difference?
See, if it were dollars, I could just reach into your bank account or your mattress, or wherever you keep them, and take them. Can't do that with bitcoins.
That's just out of practicality.
Anyone who possesses your private key has your coins.
So its more like bitcoin gives you a very strong box for holding your value and gives you a key.
This key can be taken from you and you could lose it.
Sure could. Most Western countries now have laws requiring you to hand over the keys to any encrypted data the cops want to look at.
Again, I'm a bitcoin fan. But it will not be good if it becomes illegal. (Which sounds crazy but that is the world we live in.) Trading them is one thing. But do you think someone is going to risk getting thrown in jail using an illegal currency? (Again that just sounds so crazy.)
I don't think we are close to making it illegal, that would really suck.
I don't think we are close to making it illegal, that would really suck.
Can you prove that I have ever "used" a bitcoin?
they can make it illegal though
It's illegal to download music and movies in most places yet I can still do it in just a few moments.
Shutting down exchanges? They will just move to friendlier countries.
Cheers
We can't compare downloading movies and music with currencies. Banks make wars. Controlling money is there bread and butter.
If they make BTC illegal in just a few countries it goes underground. If that happens it will be hard to sustain any kind of price.
People can, will, and do right now sell cash on .onion sites for Bitcoins. All making Bitcoin illegal will do is move all the exchanges into onionspace.
Where do we spend it? It would become a person to person exchange if possible.
If you mean the bitcoins, well, those sites usually have a large number of options for you to spend your bitcoins on....
Again, I'm a bitcoin fan. But it will not be good if it becomes illegal. (Which sounds crazy but that is the world we live in.) Trading them is one thing. But do you think someone is going to risk getting thrown in jail using an illegal currency? (Again that just sounds so crazy.)
I don't think we are close to making it illegal, that would really suck.
they can make it illegal though
It's illegal to download music and movies in most places yet I can still do it in just a few moments.
Shutting down exchanges? They will just move to friendlier countries.
Cheers
We can't compare downloading movies and music with currencies. Banks make wars. Controlling money is there bread and butter.
If they make BTC illegal in just a few countries it goes underground. If that happens it will be hard to sustain any kind of price.
People can, will, and do right now sell cash on .onion sites for Bitcoins. All making Bitcoin illegal will do is move all the exchanges into onionspace.
Where do we spend it? It would become a person to person exchange if possible.
If you mean the bitcoins, well, those sites usually have a large number of options for you to spend your bitcoins on....
they can make it illegal though
It's illegal to download music and movies in most places yet I can still do it in just a few moments.
Shutting down exchanges? They will just move to friendlier countries.
Cheers
We can't compare downloading movies and music with currencies. Banks make wars. Controlling money is there bread and butter.
If they make BTC illegal in just a few countries it goes underground. If that happens it will be hard to sustain any kind of price.
People can, will, and do right now sell cash on .onion sites for Bitcoins. All making Bitcoin illegal will do is move all the exchanges into onionspace.
Where do we spend it? It would become a person to person exchange if possible.
they can make it illegal though
It's illegal to download music and movies in most places yet I can still do it in just a few moments.
Shutting down exchanges? They will just move to friendlier countries.
Cheers
We can't compare downloading movies and music with currencies. Banks make wars. Controlling money is there bread and butter.
If they make BTC illegal in just a few countries it goes underground. If that happens it will be hard to sustain any kind of price.
People can, will, and do right now sell cash on .onion sites for Bitcoins. All making Bitcoin illegal will do is move all the exchanges into onionspace.
if the governments can shut it down
The good news is that we don't yet have "the" government. Instead, there are a few hundred of them.
they can make it illegal though
How would they enforce that exactly?It wouldn't be difficult to do enough to discourage 95% of the poopulation from using bitcoin. Scare campaign plus a few high profile busts should be enough. Shit, some miners have been raided already because the cops thought they were running grow ops. If mining was illegal they should be able to catch a few.
Exactly. The thing we will always have on our side though, is the incredibly small float.
Right now and for the next few months I think we are ok. In that time the Sh*T may hit the fan with many currencies all over the globe though.
If that happens, we will probably be ok. If we aren't ok, we have bigger things to worry about.
they can make it illegal though
It's illegal to download music and movies in most places yet I can still do it in just a few moments.
Shutting down exchanges? They will just move to friendlier countries.
Cheers
We can't compare downloading movies and music with currencies. Banks make wars. Controlling money is there bread and butter.
If they make BTC illegal in just a few countries it goes underground. If that happens it will be hard to sustain any kind of price.
It isn't that governments can end bitcoin, but for it to be viable we have to be able to spend it. If it is illegal, where are we going to spend it?
I'm all about BTC and what it stands for but we have to hope that currencies continue to crash. If that happens then the people will will BTC into being another currency.
If we stay in between for too long, they will attack us. Luckily, their currencies are collapsing all over the globe. We have a chance. We have God on our side...
See, if it were dollars, I could just reach into your bank account or your mattress, or wherever you keep them, and take them. Can't do that with bitcoins.
That's just out of practicality.
Yes, in that it's impractical to calculate between now and the heat death of the universe to get a 50% chance of guessing the right private key.
Just like would be the case if i hid my coins and encrypted the location...
In both cases the only protection is a piece of information that exists somewhere.
And someone could steal the information.
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Brainwallet
Also, even if they fail to procure the keys, they could still send one to jail for tax offenses (and possibly a lot of bla-bla bla in regards to "transaction structuring" and whatnot)
If they don't have your key then they cannot prove you own the coins.
If they cannot prove you own the coins then they cannot send you to jail for tax offense.
See, if it were dollars, I could just reach into your bank account or your mattress, or wherever you keep them, and take them. Can't do that with bitcoins.
That's just out of practicality.
Yes, in that it's impractical to calculate between now and the heat death of the universe to get a 50% chance of guessing the right private key.
Just like would be the case if i hid my coins and encrypted the location...
In both cases the only protection is a piece of information that exists somewhere.
And someone could steal the information.
However, I am also confident in government's ability to facilitate cooperation on fund recovery, so I don't see why government couldn't be very convincing about handing over the private keys to undeclared btc.
Oh certainly. Quite convincing. But at least the gun is out on the table, for all to see.
Back in the good old schooldays, a teacher told us that the core distinguishing feature of a government is a monopoly, or near-monopoly, on violence.
So I don't think govenment is going to be shy about using violence to procure stuff that it "thinks" belongs to it.
Also, even if they fail to procure the keys, they could still send one to jail for tax offenses (and possibly a lot of bla-bla bla in regards to "transaction structuring" and whatnot)
Bitcoin is, essentially, equivalent to an unbreakable safe.
It can protect your wealth from forced seizure (to a fairly large extent), but not from taxation per se.
However, I am also confident in government's ability to facilitate cooperation on fund recovery, so I don't see why government couldn't be very convincing about handing over the private keys to undeclared btc.
Oh certainly. Quite convincing. But at least the gun is out on the table, for all to see.
Back in the good old schooldays, a teacher told us that the core distinguishing feature of a government is a monopoly, or near-monopoly, on violence.
So I don't think govenment is going to be shy about using violence to procure stuff that it "thinks" belongs to it.
Also, even if they fail to procure the keys, they could still send one to jail for tax offenses (and possibly a lot of bla-bla bla in regards to "transaction structuring" and whatnot)
Bitcoin is, essentially, equivalent to an unbreakable safe.
It can protect your wealth from forced seizure (to a fairly large extent), but not from taxation per se.
However, I am also confident in government's ability to facilitate cooperation on fund recovery, so I don't see why government couldn't be very convincing about handing over the private keys to undeclared btc.
Oh certainly. Quite convincing. But at least the gun is out on the table, for all to see.
Jump to: