Topic: What would happen to the price of bitcoin if it was declared illegal in the USA? (Read 5622 times)

Quote from: stevegee58 on August 16, 2012, 02:05:19 PM

I think it would work about as well as making file sharing illegal. Good luck! Kiss

The substantive difference is that a huge number of people use and appreciate filesharing. With Bitcoin, only a tiny fraction of people have even heard of it, and a majority of those who have have a pretty negative impression of it (which is likely no accident.) So, obviously, the impact and 'marketing potential' of a crackdown would differ significantly between Bitcoin and various forms of filesharing.

The press has a hard time sympathizing with Kim Schmitz - he is a convicted criminal. But what if the US would use up huge resources to go after - 13 year old school boys running a miner on their game PC. The press is going to like this.

You forget that Bitcoin is decentralized. You have to work really hard and you need the collaboration of the ISPs to go after all those schoolboys. The ISPs are not going to like it. If Police comes to me with something like this, I will cooperate very willingly. But I will make sure that their faces will make the front page.

Lol! nice description. and those same schoolboys will grow up to be the new leaders of our country. i can't wait. i wonder what they'll say to all these debt commitments the boomers have foisted upon them? Wink

Thanks cypherdoc! I should add that I do not think anything like pilloring the police is necessary here. This is Bavaria. Bavaria may be a vassal of the USA, but I think I'll invite them to the canteen (which is indistinguishable from a beer garden in summer) and we have a round of wheat beer. I'll explain Bitcoin to them and what they are going to catch is mainly 13 year old school boys. 17 year old school boys using their mined Bitcoins to get pot on SR, if they are really, really lucky. So I'll suggest them to write a report that Bitcoin is too heavily encrypted to trace port 8333 and take another wheat beer.

are you having beers with the same cops protecting wall street thieves?

Frankly, I don't think they send NYPD policemen to Munich to arrest 13 year old school boys for running a Bitcoin miner. But then, the US is known to wage war on a lot of things. Why not on Bavarian school boys running Bitcoin miners on their game PC.

This is America, after all, the Land Of The Free (TM)

tvbcof

legendary

Activity: 4760

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Guys. You can't make software illegal (well maybe viruses and trojans). You can't make using a particular TCP/IP port illegal.

If through some freak of nature something like this happened all the activity would simply be driven to TOR or something like it. The world is full of clever people who would come up with hundreds of strategies to obfuscate BTC traffic if TOR didn't work for som reason.

It is relatively straightforward to limit utilization of certain things. Kiddie porn is a good example. While I agree that dedicated and knowledgeable (and brave and/or desperate) people would always have the capability of using Bitcoin, a clampdown would significantly modulate the makeup of the user-base and the count of said. That, in turn, would dramatically change the direction and trajectory of the solution.

bitcon

legendary

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Quote from: anu on August 16, 2012, 01:51:21 PM

Quote from: cypherdoc on August 16, 2012, 12:52:02 PM

Quote from: cypherdoc on August 16, 2012, 12:52:02 PM

I think it would work about as well as making file sharing illegal. Good luck! Kiss

The substantive difference is that a huge number of people use and appreciate filesharing. With Bitcoin, only a tiny fraction of people have even heard of it, and a majority of those who have have a pretty negative impression of it (which is likely no accident.) So, obviously, the impact and 'marketing potential' of a crackdown would differ significantly between Bitcoin and various forms of filesharing.

The press has a hard time sympathizing with Kim Schmitz - he is a convicted criminal. But what if the US would use up huge resources to go after - 13 year old school boys running a miner on their game PC. The press is going to like this.

You forget that Bitcoin is decentralized. You have to work really hard and you need the collaboration of the ISPs to go after all those schoolboys. The ISPs are not going to like it. If Police comes to me with something like this, I will cooperate very willingly. But I will make sure that their faces will make the front page.

Lol! nice description. and those same schoolboys will grow up to be the new leaders of our country. i can't wait. i wonder what they'll say to all these debt commitments the boomers have foisted upon them? Wink

Thanks cypherdoc! I should add that I do not think anything like pilloring the police is necessary here. This is Bavaria. Bavaria may be a vassal of the USA, but I think I'll invite them to the canteen (which is indistinguishable from a beer garden in summer) and we have a round of wheat beer. I'll explain Bitcoin to them and what they are going to catch is mainly 13 year old school boys. 17 year old school boys using their mined Bitcoins to get pot on SR, if they are really, really lucky. So I'll suggest them to write a report that Bitcoin is too heavily encrypted to trace port 8333 and take another wheat beer.

are you having beers with the same cops protecting wall street thieves?

stevegee58

legendary

Activity: 916

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Guys. You can't make software illegal (well maybe viruses and trojans). You can't make using a particular TCP/IP port illegal.

If through some freak of nature something like this happened all the activity would simply be driven to TOR or something like it. The world is full of clever people who would come up with hundreds of strategies to obfuscate BTC traffic if TOR didn't work for som reason.

anu

legendary

Activity: 1218

Merit: 1001

RepuX - Enterprise Blockchain Protocol

I think it would work about as well as making file sharing illegal. Good luck! Kiss

The substantive difference is that a huge number of people use and appreciate filesharing. With Bitcoin, only a tiny fraction of people have even heard of it, and a majority of those who have have a pretty negative impression of it (which is likely no accident.) So, obviously, the impact and 'marketing potential' of a crackdown would differ significantly between Bitcoin and various forms of filesharing.

The press has a hard time sympathizing with Kim Schmitz - he is a convicted criminal. But what if the US would use up huge resources to go after - 13 year old school boys running a miner on their game PC. The press is going to like this.

You forget that Bitcoin is decentralized. You have to work really hard and you need the collaboration of the ISPs to go after all those schoolboys. The ISPs are not going to like it. If Police comes to me with something like this, I will cooperate very willingly. But I will make sure that their faces will make the front page.

Lol! nice description. and those same schoolboys will grow up to be the new leaders of our country. i can't wait. i wonder what they'll say to all these debt commitments the boomers have foisted upon them? Wink

Thanks cypherdoc! I should add that I do not think anything like pilloring the police is necessary here. This is Bavaria. Bavaria may be a vassal of the USA, but I think I'll invite them to the canteen (which is indistinguishable from a beer garden in summer) and we have a round of wheat beer. I'll explain Bitcoin to them and what they are going to catch is mainly 13 year old school boys. 17 year old school boys using their mined Bitcoins to get pot on SR, if they are really, really lucky. So I'll suggest them to write a report that Bitcoin is too heavily encrypted to trace port 8333 and take another wheat beer.

cypherdoc

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I think it would work about as well as making file sharing illegal. Good luck! Kiss

The substantive difference is that a huge number of people use and appreciate filesharing. With Bitcoin, only a tiny fraction of people have even heard of it, and a majority of those who have have a pretty negative impression of it (which is likely no accident.) So, obviously, the impact and 'marketing potential' of a crackdown would differ significantly between Bitcoin and various forms of filesharing.

The press has a hard time sympathizing with Kim Schmitz - he is a convicted criminal. But what if the US would use up huge resources to go after - 13 year old school boys running a miner on their game PC. The press is going to like this.

You forget that Bitcoin is decentralized. You have to work really hard and you need the collaboration of the ISPs to go after all those schoolboys. The ISPs are not going to like it. If Police comes to me with something like this, I will cooperate very willingly. But I will make sure that their faces will make the front page.

Lol! nice description. and those same schoolboys will grow up to be the new leaders of our country. i can't wait. i wonder what they'll say to all these debt commitments the boomers have foisted upon them? Wink

anu

legendary

Activity: 1218

Merit: 1001

RepuX - Enterprise Blockchain Protocol