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I wonder how long before bitcoin gets banned by us gov completely (or at least conversion to/from usd by us banks).

It seems like this thing is ripe to create either some systemic financial crisis or help governments of countries that are not exactly allied with us interests (china, dprk etc).

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Given that this article is about a regulated US exchange introducing trading for btc, I'd say chances of US outlawing it are slim. Possibly more regulation around it, but outright banning, not likely.

Couldn't someone just publish a print version of the source code and whitepaper and it'd fall under the First Amendment? I believe this was done for PGP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy#Criminal_i...

You can publish a book on how to grow marijuana. They can still make using the book illegal.

They can even make using PGP illegal, and there are politicians trying.

Huh? There are all sorts of such literature available legally. The US government does not (in 2017 at least) ban these things.

Unless you have a recent example?

My point is that while the literature is available, implementing its content is still a controlled action.

For a reference, I mentioned your example of PGP, which would be made illegal to use under this proposed law https://www.scribd.com/doc/307378123/Burr-Encryption-Bill-Di...

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