3 ms·

> covert it to dollars convert it with whom? US government? Foreign investors?

• ben_w 6y ago
  Would it matter? In the most extreme case — if mere possession has a penalty in law — BTC could even have a negative price. People could conceivably sell it to their own government below zero to avoid being fined by the same.
  • coldtea 6y ago
    I think the concern of the parent is "but why would the government exchange it, since they're making it illegal, and at what price -- since the act of making it illegal will get it into free-fall anyway". And it might not -- if that was the case, the owner would have to try to sell it to wherever they can within the time span. Which would also mean a flooded market and falling prices, but why would the government care about that? In the end, they get a tax share of the smaller, dollar converted, amount. As for the bitcoin owners losing money because of this, well, that money were in the form of a monetary asset that was not guaranteed by the government, in the first place. It's not like they lost private property, more like they made a bad (non-)investment...
    • ben_w 6y ago
      Taxes are not the only reason a government may wish to ban it. The reason governments left the Gold Standard was for the control it gave them over the economy — ironically that control seems to be one of the rhetorical arguments BTC supporters give for wanting to ditch fiat currencies.