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Comment by alecst | Hacker News Reader

Is it possible to ban cryptocurrency traffic in general? How would that even work?

You ban it at the point of interaction with the existing financial system. You don't have to ban or block the technology.

A gov't can (has) made it illegal to mine or hold them as well. Most people won't and the value will evaporate if there is no market

The same way any other statue works. “No person shall convert, convey or tender in any currency not approved by the Department Of Treasury under penalty of …”.

Once violence on main street can be bought with crypto a ban will soon follow.

You can make it illegal to transact crypto. That would devastate the price and ruin it as a currency. The network would still exist, but it'd be useless as a medium for criminal payments due to the low value.

Low value won't change its criminal utility. A criminal looking for a $50k ransomware payment doesn't care if the market cap is $50M or $50B.

Outlawing it will make a difference though since it'll make it less likely that victims will pay, meaning the endeavor has a lower success rate.

This misses a big point though. If Corporation A needs to pay $1M in crypto to Hacker B, Corporation A needs to acquire $1M in crypto (whether that's 20 BTC or 20,000). If it's illegal for them to acquire the crypto they can't make the payment. The bottom falls out.

That's what I said in my second paragraph. The illegality itself is what will work. The market value is irrelevant

Aren't they already "illegally" making the payments via some 3rd party loophole?

Maybe. Let’s say you can, for example, purchase a cruise missile strike in crypto. Once a few cruise missiles land in LA I imagine the world governments will take a more aggressive stance on crypto. Drone strikes and military intervention will follow.

Indeed, and since attackers are now on notice from the US Govt, they might reconsider these types of attacks

Bitcoin was wildly popular on darknet markets even when it was worth less than $10. It's still tied to a dollar value, so it can be used for payments without issue.

When Bitcoin was worth less than $10 how difficult was it to change your bitcoin into cash?

Way back in the early days before exchanges, you literally bought and sold them on forums using bootleg paypal ripoffs (since paypal didn't recognize virtual money = buyers could refund)

I put off my 20,000 BTC purchase because it was so sketchy.

That is exactly as dumb as trying to make the internet illegal. It would financially ruin any country who tried it and give a significant advantage to everyone else on the planet.

....That is an extraordinary claim, and thus requires extraordinary evidence.

There is no significant legitimate commerce taking place using cryptocurrency. By what mechanism would banning converting BTC to USD "financially ruin" the US?

It would certainly be bad for ransomware companies, who probably make up a substantial portion of GDP in some dark corner of the world. Think of their children!

What evidence is available that crypto is so essential to the national economy that it would cause financial ruin?

Just last month, China banned the use of crypto by any financial institution. Are you suggesting this will ruin their economy?

1. No.

2. It wouldn't.

Same way as currently botnet command center IPs are blackholed.

Scan the Internet for any BTC/Ethereum open ports and blackhole them.

Also, some ISPs disconnect users upon detection of BitTorrent traffic.

the government could block the whole internet tomorrow if they wanted to.... because weapons.

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