[FriedPickles]

If FinCEN rules that operating a lightning node constitutes acting as a money transmitter, it would be unenforceable. It may still discourage operating an intermediate node in the US and shift the majority of nodes to other countries.

[AlexCoventry]

Why unenforceable?

[ExactoKnight]

The same way Bitcoin can't realistically be stopped by any government. (Short of seizing network hashing power..)

[zaarn]

Or by ruling that it is illegal to buy, sell or own bitcoin.

While bitcoin might continue, most citizens will stop bothering at that point because buying or selling bitcoin shows up in tax audits.

The government can also make it illegal to operate a bitcoin node or transmit bitcoin transactions, including for ISPs, which would get the protocol quickly blocked.

Additionally they could rule Bitcoin to be an illegal form of monetary exchange which would mean that anything you buy via bitcoin would get you in hot water in addition to the tax problems if you can't prove you used a legal monetary method.

Of course, some people might use Tor and somehow manage to get money extracted from the Tax system so they can buy bitcoin without their local tax office knowing... but how many of the Mr. Normal population are able and willing to do that for bitcoin?

I think you severely underestimate the power of the government.

[utunga]

> While bitcoin might continue, most citizens will stop bothering at that point because buying or selling bitcoin shows up in tax audits.

But they'd only show up for a short period of time (in this scenario) because after a while bitcoin wouldn't really be worth anything. Lol.

[ExactoKnight]

You will have a drug war on your hands, only way harder to enforce thanks to encryption.

It's a losing game, and I think you forget that there are way too many rich people in positions of power who like crypto for it to be successfully killed. The ruling classes actually like it more than the lower classes do.

[zaarn]

The drug war hasn't really helped in putting illegal drugs into mainstream use.

Mainstream users will not use bitcoin if it becomes illegal. End of story. Maybe some people continue to use it but it'll probably be far below any drug usage levels.

>It's a losing game, and I think you forget that there are way too many rich people in positions of power who like crypto for it to be successfully killed. The ruling classes actually like it more than the lower classes do.

That's barely relevant because the "rich ruling classes" could still do it. I'm evaluating this as "what if they do" not "would they do"

[imtringued]

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are nothing without public exchanges.

[xkarga00]

Wait until most cryptos support atomic swaps.