Yes, I'm always a little wary when the big guys like the government, have their hands or interest on something.

Bitcoin is already infiltrated according to We Are Change. However, it is not enough to destroy bitcoin because if it does fall…other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Monero, Zcash & more will take its place.

The government is always after money 💰, or people who make money

We will have to evolve as these threats progress. The threats will not stop and will possibly never let up. Things like STEEM give power to our community because it allows us to share information. It's time to make them afraid of what the people can do. Thanks for the info.

good

I always worry some stupid law will be passed that will end cyprtocurrency! But I hope that day never comes! Fingers crossed!

Much like grow ops, I see them looking at the miners.  Those are the low hanging fruit.  Monitor power consumption. If it's high, get a warrant then find out if its drugs or miners.  

Since miners aren't illegal, they would then have to monitor the bank accounts of the individuals.  (Similar to watching endpoints)

I hope this never happens, but I see it as the easiest way to spot something. POS will reduce this risk.

Monero would be really useful wouldnt it?

This is why Proof of Stake is the way foward

Governments control everything, they know everything about you. There's no way to escape them, they own you!

For me the way they could try and bring it down is to make it a lot harder to get to, and trying to prove that bitcoing is mostly used for criminal and terrorist transfers and such, wich was the original stand they had when it became a thing. Financing terrorism and criminal activity annonimously is a big downside that can be pushed and used for putting people off of the crypto world.

Taxes will be another way to go after crypto and discourage people.

 A new bunch of European directive about crypto is coming in 2017 and in some country, there are already crazy taxes when you want to cashout your profit.

Or they can go crazy like in Venezuela, forbid bitcoin and throw miner into jail.

However, if governments did attack the end points in say the US or UK there would still be some countries that would allow bitcoin to be exchanged for local currency because of the potential billions of $ in trades it would inject into their economy. It would be such an advantage to a smaller nation, like say Japan for a large country to this. Thus ensuring a way out of crypto albeit probablly at a loss

I doubt if a certain progressive government will do it... as other first world countries are already into cryptocurrency. A  country should adapt or be left out  in the competition....

So here's the "thing" about crypto.  Its a global currency and no one country really owns it.  This is extremely important since this makes it neutral in a way.  Some countries are taking a very friendly approach to crypto, legalizing it and treating it like any other currency, like Japan and from what I read India is about to do the same.  At this point, I believe there is enough support and understanding of crypto that governments will not act hostile towards it.  Most people are beginning to find it fascinating like the early days of the Internet.

Or they can just shut down the internet.

Never underestimate the greed and power lust of governments...

Good points When you can print all the money you want to print it sort of give them an advantage. I say they are done in my lifetime.  The war monging psychopaths  will be history!

They will and have to fight the coins, because they cannot control them. But they can stop them.
The weak spot is what you listed as #2, the transfer between the web and real world economy. And they dont need any clever hacking or so, they simply declare it illegal to exchange coins into FIAT money or vice versa, or to accept coins in a purchase. Sure, you then can still send your coins around on the web, but you cannot buy anything for them - which renders them worthless.

The government want to instill fear in the population so they can keep people  enslaved on the fiat dollar. Keep us in debt keeps us under they're control so they can profit, sad.

See, I'm thinking that they would just report little used or perhaps straight up imaginary exchanges failing!

Actually, all they will do is outlaw it and be done, I suspect.  Call it a "tool for money laundering, drug dealers, and terrorists."

1. Attack by bugs in the code requires evil coders hunting a coin's code for weak spots. To me that does not sound much different than ordinary hackers trying to game the system. It seems unlikely that government would attract brilliant hackers to try to find bugs in a cryptocurrency coin's code. Even if they find one, software can be changed quickly so damage to the reputation of cryptocurrencies, if any, would only be temporary.

2. The connection points between digital currencies and fiat (meaning: current money) systems are weak spots. But the importance of exchanges may diminish over time once cryptocurrencies spread over communities, entire countries, the entire world. In principle, exchange can be done directly without the need of an exchange. However, some form of exchange is still needed for price signals. Should government attack exchanges instead of regulating them, I foresee the rise of decentralised exchanges like [Bisq](https://bitsquare.io/). In fact, Bisq may be the next-gen exchange once fiat money no longer plays a major role in economies.

3. For infiltration a similar thought applies as stated under 1. Yes, it could do damage and yes, it may give governments an angle if they want to cause harm. No, it won't stop cryptocurrencies from advancing. Set backs would only be temporary. The strong points of (open source) software are that it can be copied endlessly, reused and changed by anyone. Whacking a mole will not destroy all other moles popping up.

4. I miss the biggest 'threat': taxation. Governments will probably tax cryptocurrencies in forms that are not always the best in terms of economic effects. With governments up to their eyeballs in debt, there may be an incentive to impose crushing taxes on cryptocurrency gains or capital gains taxes levied from exchanges directly. Such move would severely delay the rise of cryptocurrencies. But it would not stop the advance, only temporarily slow it. Cryptocurrencies would go underground on a 'dark net' and if that happens in large enough numbers, governments will have lost total control, forever.

5. So in my opinion,, government's best approach would be to adapt to this new tech and find a place in a new equilibrium between citizens and State. Attacking it too hard and this tech will go underground.

"*Essentially it would consist of government programmers scouring the bitcoin code or a mixture of another method I will talk about later and inserting a bug into the code via infiltration and exploiting it. Most likely the exploitation would be used over a long period of time to achieve a specific goal without many noticing what is going on.*"

Otherwise known as Segregated Witness. Or SegWit2x.

I would also call regulation-strangulation their 4th option.

The governments have a far more easy, and tried and true method of attacking crypto. Fear. Fear through misinformation, by working in unison with the media and the finance industry (who are driving the policies on this) and then fear of prosecution fines and jail time. 

If another nation should wholeheartedly embrace the said taboo or even offer a safe haven for others, they will also be punished with fear, the fear of sanctions and then the fear of war (terrorism).

None of this is to say, that governments are not already doing any of the things you have suggested.

What an excellent steem post man! you obviously, have the right ideas, I think  there's no reason to worry because the social support for blockchains will out perform and out number any one government! It would take every government from all countries  working together to stop or control bitcoin...lol when was the last time all governments were in agreement on anything ..lol thus we have nothing to worry about! -Great job #calaber24p

good article.. thanks

your post has very much have sense  and inI teresting view on crypto and governmennt, we should not neglect all possibilities, which governments could implement on cryptos and internet in general.
and due to open source nature of blockchain (bitcoin particularly) code the  idea of infesting a bug will be short.lived

As long as they can find a way to tax it then it will be safe if not it will not be around to long. Like online gambling sites the USA made it almost impossible to put money in or take money out a few found ways around it,others quit some like myself discovered bitcoin sites. Time will tell whether we're just at the beginning of this revolution or at the end.  Don't forget the saying don't put all your eggs in one basket.

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