Short answer: no. Long answer: Possibilities: Make it illegal: This will most likely turn bitcoin into what they are afraid it will be. If use of bitcoin is

Short answer: no. Long answer: Possibilities: Make it illegal: This will most likely turn bitcoin into what they are afraid it will be. If use of bitcoin is made illegal we cannot use it for personal or business use, and those who would use it for illegal reasons, trafficking in illegal goods and money laundering would still use it and would be the sum of the bitcoin economy. Regulate it (end point taxation, quotas, or caps): This is the best action of the government we can hope for. The government will act, and this is what economists will tell them to do. End point taxation will be hard to enforce but would be just has hard to enforce as full illegality: it would allow government control, yield revenue versus lose it and give everybody what they want. This is the compromise position. Ignore it (How things are now, but not going to stay this way): The government will ignore bitcoin until it causes a problem. A problem means in this case, that they are up for re-election and their constituents care about it or the credit card companies/banks get worried and send in their lobbyists. Neither of these things will happen until somebody makes an easy to use consumer facing product that allows easy use of bitcoin in everyday life that can challenge any established product (this is surely already happening). Right now there is a lot of clamor and potential. Nobody is going to move in the legislature (the judiciary's hands are tied until somebody gets sued and the executive tends to stay out of this stuff until one of the other two sets the rules) until a real incident has happened with bitcoin. i.e. somebody is caught using it to launder money for something publicly inflammatory or some startup comes up with a great way to sell it to the consumer masses.