> A government can basically make anything it wants illegal, and once cryptocurrencies become large enough, there will be tons of additional regulations and control.
Only totalitarian states have this power in practice. In a democracy, where e.g. 75% of people use Bitcoin, the government can’t criminalize it — if it were able to, that government wouldn’t be democratically elected. A democratic government does not have an opinion separate from the people; indeed that’s the whole idea of democracy.
If only a small fraction of people are using Bitcoin, it will not pose a threat to government, and it will have no incentive to criminalize its use. Only when a large part of people are using Bitcoin can it pose a problem to government, and once we reach that point the opposition to make it illegal will be too great.
Even though democratic governments are supposed to be representative of the people, a government is still a separate entity from the people, meaning it has its own motivations and tendencies.
An example of this is the military-industrial complex (disproportionate spending linked to politics). Or the way marijuana has been illegal for the past 100 years (a false campaign under the guise of protecting people).
If Bitcoin is banned early enough to harm liquidity and adoption between itself and fiats, and a government approved cryptocurrency is introduced as a competitor, then I think Bitcoin could basically be killed in an economy.
Only totalitarian states have this power in practice. In a democracy, where e.g. 75% of people use Bitcoin, the government can’t criminalize it — if it were able to, that government wouldn’t be democratically elected. A democratic government does not have an opinion separate from the people; indeed that’s the whole idea of democracy.
If only a small fraction of people are using Bitcoin, it will not pose a threat to government, and it will have no incentive to criminalize its use. Only when a large part of people are using Bitcoin can it pose a problem to government, and once we reach that point the opposition to make it illegal will be too great.