The way most people use Bitcoin these days, I would wager a bet that they will lose almost all their coins, when regulated exchanges are forced
to block accounts. How many bitcoins are stored in services that adhere to strict AML/KYC regulations.. How many of them can be forced to
block accounts and then to transfer the "live" coins and the ones held in cold storage to the government. It has happened with Fiat banks, so
why not with these services?
That all makes sense. But who says the majority of people let 3rd parties keep their coins? Maybe that's true, but I'm not seeing any actual evidence for that
The fact remains: those who do secure their own Bitcoins for themselves cannot have them taken by force, it doesn't matter if it's government or just a regular street mugger. That's
never been possible ever before, to think that this huge change will go unexploited only demonstrates a severe lack of imagination.
Where the banks and government once held all the power, now everyone is equally powerful.
Yes, Carlton... It will take a lot of aggressive threats by the governments to "take" your coins and this will not happen to the average Bitcoiner
that stores his/her coins in cold storage, but they
can target the soft targets first... namely : regulated 3rd parties. You should NEVER
store more than 20% of your total hoard in these services... to reduce the risk of these services getting hacked or "blocked" by government
actions. Just look at what happened with members on this forum, when they raided their houses. < Reason : suspected money transmitter >
