20 sats \ 0 replies \ @phygit 20 Nov 2023 \ on: What if Bitcoin Gets Banned? bitcoin
A bit naive. Yes, technically it's difficult and nearly impossible to totally ban a decentralized network. But there are plenty of (easy) ways for governments to act against Bitcoin.
A good example is Russia. As of today, Bitcoin is not banned, it can be mined and owned. But it cannot be used as payment for anything. A merchant accepting BTC would face serious trouble. Therefore, Russian people owning some bitcoins cannot do anything with them in their country (and are very limited abroad, with most exchanges such as Binance, restricting/banning Russia).
Even more liberal countries have tons of way to limit Bitcoin, from BitLicenses in New York to heavy taxation in Europe. They are not real bans, but it certainly hurts Bitcoin.
And you're dreaming if you think there could be a big uprising of "the cryptocurrency community". First, there is no such thing (neither crypto or Bitcoin are communities), second crypto and Bitcoin have a very bad image in general audience and media and would not get much support.
Let's not forget that a good 99% of people on this planet don't have cryptos, and many are fighting them, with the clear intent to kill them all (Bitcoin included).