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Bitcoin Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [government]

the body exercising authority over a political units and questions about how they may affect, and be affected by, crypto-currencies.

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What methods could a government use to shutdown Bitcoin?

Let's say that a government decided to shut down the Bitcoin network. What options would they have to achieve this? Would they need to convince other governments? All governments? Let's set as a precondition that they were able to scare away all the…
David
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What would a country adopting Bitcoins as official currency have to reinvent?

Let's say that a country decided to ditch their currency and go for Bitcoins. What would this country have to reinvent. The reason why I ask, is because I believe that if a tiny country was to adopt Bitcoins as their official currency, then this…
David
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What does the US government do with seized coins?

It was reported today that the US government shut down the web site Silk Road, where people bought and sold things (allegedly including illegal drugs) using Bitcoins. The operator was arrested, and BTC 26000 was seized. (Source: New York Times). A…
Nate Eldredge
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How can government "seize" bitcoins?

Last year the U.S. Department of Justice posted this press release claiming U.S. "law enforcement seized several thousand Bitcoins on November 3, 2020." How is it possible for anyone to "seize" BTC? My understanding is that it is technically…
feetwet
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How much would it cost for a government to undermine Bitcoins?

Articles by for example the Economist stating that Bitcoins are being used for drug trading (Silk Road), I believe that the biggest risk to Bitcoins is that a government will pull a stunt similar to Stuxnet. This was also the answer of David…
David
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What prevents Bitcoins for being used to avoid taxation?

Today, states can follow money trails and transaction histories, usually involving checking bank accounts. As as I understand, It's impossible for anyone else to read your Bitcoin transactions and current balance without your consent. In a Bitcoin…
Martin Wickman
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Defense from Government Intervention

What's to stop a government, say the U.S. government, from saying "Hey, it's okay if you want to use Bitcoins, but you have to use at least version 0.6.3". And then a year later changing the law to "Hey, it's okay if you want to use Bitcoins, but…
Paul
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Is it possible to "unmine" particular coins?

Imagine that a government seizes a large amount of bitcoins in a raid such as with "Silk Road". Is it possible to invalidate those particular coins and send them back to the "pool" to be re-mined so that that government cannot profit from the…
Shane Maness
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Can someone with an unlimited amount of money compromize the network?

I was reading this interesting discussion in the comments section on ZH where this guy was talking about how a single entity (think corrupt government and banksters) can throw money and processing power at will at the network to successfully manage…
Abbas Gadhia
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What is a brief summary of the ECB's report on virtual currency?

On 29th Oct 2012, the European Central Bank released this report on virtual currency. What is a summary of its comments on Bitcoin?
Highly Irregular
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If Bitcoin is not controlled by the state, how come in some countries it is illegal?

From my understanding, Bitcoin is decentralized and not controlled by any company or organization (so, for example, no bank is behind Bitcoin). However, this seems to not be powerful enough to resist to the country laws. There are quite a few…
Ionică Bizău
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What happens if the US govt. bans Bitcoin?

They can do that because they are the US govt. What would be the likely consequences of the ban?
Mella
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Will an approved Bitcoin-like system replace Bitcoin?

What is the chance of another Bitcoin-like currency system to replace Bitcoin? Will Bitcoin still coexist with such systems? Will it affect then-current Bitcoin exchange rate? By Bitcoin-like, I mean, government and banks approved, more privacy,…
vi.su.
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How many BTC were seized in relation to the shutdown of Silk Road?

I'm interested in the total amount of BTC that was seized in the Silk Road confiscation by the FBI. The reason I'm interested is so I can figure out what Bitcoin Addresses were used and how I can trace the usage of "Silk Road coins" in the network…
makerofthings7
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How would a governmental Bitcoin ban work in practice?

How does a potantial Bitcoin ban work in practice in a regime that a.) at least partially allows access to the Internet, and b.) has at least one payment system that is not closely monitored by the government, such as cash. Some difficulties of…
Coin Empress
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