For one thing, if one day it may look like like they may succeed in their goal -- bypassing government controls on money flow and supply --, then governments will surely ban them.
Governments do not have control of money flow and supply. Banks do.
Whatever, it does not change the problem.
The controls I am referring to include their fight against money laundering, illegal commerce, bribery, embezzlement, tax evasion, blackmail, financing terrorism, sabotage and assasinations on their soil, ... If governments get to see cryptocurrencies as a significant obstacle to their efforts against those things, they will clamp down on them -- make crypto commerce illegal, raid servers, co-opt or infitrate crypto outfits, etc. With full support from the banks, of course.
Bearer stock certificates (BSCs) were numbered but anonymous pieces of fancy paper that certified the bearer as owner of so-many shares of some company. BSCs of major companies were fungible and untraceable, like dollar bills; but one certificate could be worth thousands of dollars, so they were much more convenient than cash or gold for large payments that had to be hidden from the government, and to take money across borders. Moreover, their value would grow over time, so they could be used to safely store wealth for decades, out of the reach of government. BSCs of course were favorites of criminals and tax evaders. Surprise, companies no longer issue BSCs, and they have been outlawed in many places (~20 years ago in Brazil, IIRC).
Yeah they are all over it...
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/gangster-bankers-too-big-to-jail-20130214 "The deal was announced quietly, just before the holidays, almost like the government was hoping people were too busy hanging stockings by the fireplace to notice. Flooring politicians, lawyers and investigators all over the world, the U.S. Justice Department granted a total walk to executives of the British-based bank HSBC for the largest drug-and-terrorism money-laundering case ever. Yes, they issued a fine – $1.9 billion, or about five weeks' profit – but they didn't extract so much as one dollar or one day in jail from any individual, despite a decade of stupefying abuses.
People may have outrage fatigue about Wall Street, and more stories about billionaire greedheads getting away with more stealing often cease to amaze. But the HSBC case went miles beyond the usual paper-pushing, keypad-punching sort-of crime, committed by geeks in ties, normally associated with Wall Street. In this case, the bank literally got away with murder – well, aiding and abetting it, anyway."
They have got bigger fish to fry.... or not fry as the case may be.
