Hmm....
I think war. War offers a pretext for anything and everything. Under cover of war, you could demonize bitcoin holders, change the terminology (not self-custodial but "unhosted", things like that), push stories about terrorists and "our enemies" using bitcoin.
Actually I can see things happening in this order -
  • propaganda about terrorists, child traffickers using bitcoin
  • promotion of chain analysis and how effective it is to prevent the above
  • then - you must, at the very least, register your public keys so the government can track your bitcoin and make sure you're not a baddie.
  • finally - no more self-custody, only "hosted wallets"
Of course bitcoin is so different from gold, thank goodness. Hopefully the future is a lot brighter.
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