The government can quite easily ban cryptocurrency, but the real question is "Can The Government Stop The Use Of Cryptocurrency?" and the answer here is NO!
We'll start this off by saying when it comes to "The Internet" laws become almost useless because, by design, the world wide web is essentially a "permissionless" ecosystem where people can do anything, anytime, anyhow, and anywhere and there's very little anyone else can do about it.
Well, let's not say nobody can do anything about it, but that most actions taken could have disastrous effects on the parties involved, which in this case, the government and their honey pots(the economic builders - the people).
At Glance
● Blockchain and cryptocurrency are like the Internet and music files, once the files get spread across numerous computers, the Internet will always have it and thus, spread it even more, no copyright laws can stop it from circulating.
● Cryptocurrencies will continue to function provided the Internet is still a thing and computers still work as they should.
● Killing crypto would require killing IP service providers, all data centres, private computers, and a lot more, does that sound like reality?
● The effects of this are billions in lost revenues and a whole lot of angry people. There's no army large or strong enough to suppress such a disaster.
Cryptocurrencies are digital assets, thus they function in a digital ecosystem that is largely permissionless. When it comes to digital products, what the majority fail to understand is that everything effectively boils down to numbers, the language the computer understands happens to be binary codes which are simply 0 and 1. Anybody can type in 0 and 1 on a computer, right? Well, others can turn these binary codes into something highly advanced(software-wise) and highly complex(number-wise) like Bitcoin.
Like everything that exists in the digital ecosystem or should we call it the open web where diverse computers across the globe decide to share their files amongst themselves? Bitcoin is simply a number system with complex functionalities. These complex layers make Bitcoin different from other digital products. What Bitcoin has absolutely nothing to do with the logo you see flying around, just like the visuals of this website you're reading, what actually powers it cannot be seen, so with Bitcoin, everything you see is simply frontends stuff made to allow everyone easily understands what they are looking at.
All of this points us to one fact which is that what the government would be fighting against is not Bitcoin(the logo everybody sees), but the freedom to leverage computers and its numerous open-source software to build applications, products, and services that really don't endanger people at the very base layer. When we begin to see deeper into it, it becomes much more obvious that cryptocurrencies being banned really isn't relevant, in fact, a surface ban only triggers more demand than before.
China As A Case Study
The Chinese government is known for always trying to replicate a system in order to retain control of how its citizens operate and the value created within the said ecosystem. This has been seen with the crackdown on crypto mining and all related transactions in mainland China, however, regardless of the imposed ban which has caused China to lose its place as the top bitcoin mining hub, the Chinese are still heavily invested in cryptocurrencies while the government is attempting to build their version of the Metaverse and Web3.
According to reports, Mainland China recorded more than US$220 billion in total transactions between June 2021 and July 2022 to remain East Asia’s top cryptocurrency market despite the crackdown on trading, mining, and all related crypto transactions in the country. The effects of banning cryptocurrency-related transactions in Asia's Top East crypto market has only chased businesses away from the country which means the nation loses out on "potential" economic expansion, in fact, other reports show that Bitcoin mining only expanded after the Chinese 2021 ban on bitcoin with its hash rate growing from 150 Eh/s prior to the ban with China contributing over 70.9 exahashes per second to Bitcoin total hash rate to it currently sitting at 385.60 EH/s after the ban.
The bottom line here is that the government can ban cryptocurrency by passing new laws that make it a violating digital product. However, they simply will have a tougher time getting people to stop using it or build more products and services on top of it, so the best option is to find ways to regulate the digital and decentralized assets markets rather than ban it as though its already a clear value technology that could help even the stocks market expand and tap into more value markets.
Plus, given that certain countries like El Salvador already made Bitcoin a legal tender, a global cryptocurrency ban will not be possible and all nations banning cryptocurrency right now are simply pushing businesses away to these crypto-friendly countries.
STAY INFORMED
Disclaimer: The content on this page and all pages of Icoverage.io are presented for informational purposes only and should not be considered finance or legal advice.
This page may contain affiliate promotions, see our affiliate disclosure to learn more.
.gif?ts=1732427904)
