[CryptoPunk]

I've never heard of anyone being prosecuted for writing open source code.

It would be a direct affront to the First Amendment, and it would be remarkable if the US government ever did this to anyone residing in the US, let alone someone residing in other countries where different laws apply.

I could maybe see the Chinese government taking such action, but it has much less influence globally than the US, and a relatively small portion of open source contributors reside in Mainland China.

>>It would not be too difficult to pass a law prohibiting consumers to knowingly trade on non-registered exchanges I'd think.

Such a law would be widely ignored. Just look at illegal filesharing.

Ultimately digital currency will force the US to decide whether it's a free society, or whether it mandates that people transact through centralized gatekeepers. Hopefully it will choose the former.