Will people continue to use crypto if outlawed?

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

What do you think? Will people still use crypto in a country where it's prohibited to do so? Or will they be afraid? What if all of the world's countries turn against crypto (which is very unlikely atm)? Will market prices go all the way to $0?

Your input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I don't think it's even possible for the whole country in the world to turn against crypto, I don't want to imagine it but it's never going to be possible because every country is not the same, some countries have experienced profitability in Bitcoin and other crypto they knees about and can not agree to go against Bitcoin, but if most countries turn against crypto it will surely affect the market but I doubt it will cause the market to drop to $0 since it's not completely destroyed and some people can still be buying at the bottom.

[tygeade]

If this is their bread and butter or even they get lots of benefits for using crypto for sure that people will continue to use this.

But if it happens that they are not a regular crypto user and they are just here try their luck to earn then this people would possibly avoid using crypto if there's ruling that government will think about crypto is illegal and  put penalties to those people who use it. Also provably common answer towards the question is depends on the benefits what people could get on crypto since this is deciding factor to them to stay or obey then quit.

I think some can still quit because they are afraid of the consequences and then maybe they already save enough money to start on a new journey? I'm talking about the people who deal with legal stuffs because those who aren't have no fear and they are used to it already.

For those irregulars, there are also some that are willing to take risks. This is the same to those who bet on underground matches. Irregulars exist though even on a normal market condition. So the answer to the OP's question is no, the cryptocurrency market can never drop to zero but obviously it can be affected greatly if more or all countries will turn against crypto.

[Stable090]

In countries where crypto is "banned" (illegal for mainstream use), do you think people will still use it?

The formal government didn’t just ban bitcoin directly in my country, but I will call what he did as a ban because he instructed the central bank of my country to lock all accounts that has history of crypto transactions, so he banned crypto indirectly, but the current government lifted the ban since their is a change in government.

When the central banks were locking accounts, people were so careful then, but even as people were not making transactions with bitcoin, lots of people were still accumulating coins then, even as it was done hidden, and when the central banks were locking accounts, bitcoin awareness was just increasing, and even people that don’t know about bitcoin before started knowing about it, and some people started doing more research about bitcoin, and they were investing.

Even if the government bans crypto, people will still be accumulating coins hidden, because they know the government is against bitcoin just for their own selfish interest, and there is nothing more.

[kotajikikox]

What do you think? Will people still use crypto in a country where it's prohibited to do so? Or will they be afraid? What if all of the world's countries turn against crypto (which is very unlikely atm)? Will market prices go all the way to $0?

Crypto wasn’t legalized back then but look how much growth there is. People still used it and I believe people will continue to use it even if it was prohibited. A lot of what’s banned nowadays continue to happen but just underground. With crypto’s nature, it would be easy to hide the fact that you are using it.

[NeuroticFish]

In countries where crypto is "banned" (illegal for mainstream use), do you think people will still use it? In such an scenario, it's possible on-chain criminal activity (mainly money laundering, terrorist financing, etc) will rise. To prevent detection, it's likely both criminals and average people will use a privacy-oriented coin such as Monero or Zcash. Bitcoin will be the least used cryptocurrency due to its transparent design. But I could be wrong.

I think that people will just start getting more cautious, from using their own nodes to mixing or coin-joining their money.
Also keep in mind that people use Bitcoin more as an investment than as a currency, and dormant money in a wallet is pretty low profile actually (until you move to sell it, that is).

Monero? Yeah, it's cool, but I'm unsure on how largely it's being used. And even if it had a great year... it's still far from its ATH vs Bitcoin.

What do you think? Will people still use crypto in a country where it's prohibited to do so? Or will they be afraid? What if all of the world's countries turn against crypto (which is very unlikely atm)? Will market prices go all the way to $0?

Your question is a bit strange in a world where crypto is starting to become mainstream, actually.
However, while prohibiting them is indeed a blow from the average Joe's point of view and some will leave the ecosystem, that's for sure, if the coin has a strong user base (and it is indeed useful) then the impact will not be so big - of course, it depends on what country/countries ban it. Some will keep using it no matter what: I know that Monero, although delisted by a huge lot of exchanges, is doing rather good; I've read here and there sparse stories about the use of Bitcoin and altcoins in countries they are banned, but people use them as separate income or investment because they have to,... keep in mind that people are much more resourceful than the governments.
But the world is bigger than a couple of countries, so the market going to 0 is usually not to happen. But it depends a lot on how strong the coin is.

[doubletheprof]

Yep, atleast on the black market

[Accardo]

Some crypto can be affected, but not Bitcoin, because it's now part of political trends, President who are for Bitcoin get more votes from the crypto community, and that's what the politicians want, a factor or way to increase people's interest on their mandate. The technology, wasn't made to harm the society but to give seamless and uninterrupted network usage to citizens of the world, it's not a type of thing the government would want to be scrapped out and even if they wanted it the possibility of acchiving such a goal is low.

[Crypto Library]

In countries where crypto is "banned" (illegal for mainstream use), do you think people will still use it? In such an scenario, it's possible on-chain criminal activity (mainly money laundering, terrorist financing, etc) will rise. To prevent detection, it's likely both criminals and average people will use a privacy-oriented coin such as Monero or Zcash. Bitcoin will be the least used cryptocurrency due to its transparent design. But I could be wrong.

I think that bitcoin is used more than privacy-oriented coins in money laundering. Yes, bitcoin has best transparency system, but in this case, money launderers use mixing services.

What do you think? Will people still use crypto in a country where it's prohibited to do so? Or will they be afraid? What if all of the world's countries turn against crypto (which is very unlikely atm)? Will market prices go all the way to $0?

Your input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Have you heard the country name Bangladesh? I am from there, and yes cryptocurrency is fully banned in our country. I am on this bitcointalk forum and many people from my local community are on this forum.
Moreover, I saw in a survey that about 4 million people from my country are involved in cryptocurrency. Now understand by you self that how much people in my country are interested in using cryptocurrency. And I think once this space started it has no brake no one can control it so it will never goes to zero in the future.

[WatChe]

Even if the government bans crypto, people will still be accumulating coins hidden, because they know the government is against bitcoin just for their own selfish interest, and there is nothing more.

The government has the authority to ban Bitcoin along with crypto that is going through centralised bodies which can be monitored i.e exchanges. There is no way government can ban the decentralised Bitcoin or peer-to-peer transactions. If I talk about my country then our government has very clear stance that Bitcoin and other crypto are completely illegal in the country. Due to ban on crypto there is no merchant available that accepts payment in Bitcoin but people are free to accumulate Bitcoin in there decentralised wallets since government has no control over them. 

[Abiky]

A government ban on cryptocurrencies wont eliminate them, it will just drive activity underground.  People will continue using digital assets out of necessity or for illegal purposes, particularly privacy-focused coins like Monero.  Bitcoin transparency makes it unsuitable for serious crime anyway.  While a worldwide ban is improbable, prices would not totally collapse in that event - underground crypto markets would still exist.  Governments cannot eradicate decentralized networks at most they can force them into the shadows.

In such an scenario, I'm afraid criminal activity will rise like skyrocket. This will result in a massive reduction of capital inflows in the crypto market. After all, institutional investors and VCs won't be there anymore to "pump" prices all the way to the moon. They're the ones that keep things going.

If there's one coin that will survive, that would be Bitcoin. The rest (altcoins) will simply fade away into oblivion. Considering that the odds of a global crypto ban is slim, we should have nothing to worry about. People will simply move on to other countries with a friendly stance towards crypto. At the time of this writing, there are a lot more countries supporting crypto than those against it. We should expect things to stay that way for a long time.

[aioc]

What do you think? Will people still use crypto in a country where it's prohibited to do so? Or will they be afraid?

It depends on how you take the risks. If there is a prison sentence, I don't think I can take it. If I'm a prominent investor, I prefer to get out of that country and go to a country where I can invest freely, and I have a chance to be financially free

What if all of the world's countries turn against crypto (which is very unlikely atm)? Will market prices go all the way to $0?

If it's only the government and the general public are still supporting it, I don't think it will go to zero. Bitcoin started with zero support from the government, and look where it is right now.

[JeffBrad12]

What do you think? Will people still use crypto in a country where it's prohibited to do so? Or will they be afraid? What if all of the world's countries turn against crypto (which is very unlikely atm)? Will market prices go all the way to $0?

Crypto wasn’t legalized back then but look how much growth there is. People still used it and I believe people will continue to use it even if it was prohibited. A lot of what’s banned nowadays continue to happen but just underground. With crypto’s nature, it would be easy to hide the fact that you are using it.

Crypto is a lot more resilient than most of people make it out to be.
It was being viewed in a bad way back then yet crypto still active and consistently having rally.
It's now more recognized than ever and crypto become even bigger.
Even without government recognition and the potential of it being outlawed, it will still be alive and well, that's the advantage of decentralized peer to peer currency.
It's built to be resilient from the start.

[MArsland]

In countries where crypto is "banned" (illegal for mainstream use), do you think people will still use it?

The formal government didn’t just ban bitcoin directly in my country, but I will call what he did as a ban because he instructed the central bank of my country to lock all accounts that has history of crypto transactions, so he banned crypto indirectly, but the current government lifted the ban since their is a change in government.

When the central banks were locking accounts, people were so careful then, but even as people were not making transactions with bitcoin, lots of people were still accumulating coins then, even as it was done hidden, and when the central banks were locking accounts, bitcoin awareness was just increasing, and even people that don’t know about bitcoin before started knowing about it, and some people started doing more research about bitcoin, and they were investing.

Even if the government bans crypto, people will still be accumulating coins hidden, because they know the government is against bitcoin just for their own selfish interest, and there is nothing more.

The scenario is if all countries in the world oppose crypto then of course the price could be $0, because after all humans cannot be separated from finance, unfortunately that is impossible and on the contrary crypto especially Bitcoin becomes an alternative for a country from fiat currency saturation. We have seen it, countries that prohibit crypto are more obedient than any other country regarding finance, instead they form a paid group to make the crypto industry a nest for money laundering from the theft they do and funded by the country.

[Abiky]

Crypto is a lot more resilient than most of people make it out to be.
It was being viewed in a bad way back then yet crypto still active and consistently having rally.
It's now more recognized than ever and crypto become even bigger.
Even without government recognition and the potential of it being outlawed, it will still be alive and well, that's the advantage of decentralized peer to peer currency.
It's built to be resilient from the start.

Cryptocurrencies are "resilient" until people stops supporting them. If everyone stops using crypto out of fear from the government, then the revolution would simply die. As simple as that. In such an scenario, Bitcoin would have weaker network security. It would also lose a huge percentage of its current value. The situation would be much worse with other cryptocurrencies.

Fortunately for us, the chances of every government going against crypto are slim. Some countries will embrace the revolution, while others will reject it. Just like what's happening right now. With the huge taxation benefits cryptocurrencies provide, it would be hard to ignore them. Governments will continue to regulate the industry, until it's under their complete control. Pakistan recently changed its mind about BTC, while Russia's central bank is exploring the use of crypto. Laws are favoring crypto users now more than ever, so there should be nothing to worry about.

[Helena Yu]

I think I'm gonna use it.

The reason why people use privacy coins when their government ban cryptocurrency is they have no other way to get maximum privacy. Sending cash across the country is almost impossible, hence such people need privacy coins.

[Firstfrost]

In countries where crypto is "banned" (illegal for mainstream use), do you think people will still use it? In such an scenario, it's possible on-chain criminal activity (mainly money laundering, terrorist financing, etc) will rise. To prevent detection, it's likely both criminals and average people will use a privacy-oriented coin such as Monero or Zcash. Bitcoin will be the least used cryptocurrency due to its transparent design. But I could be wrong.

I think that people will just start getting more cautious, from using their own nodes to mixing or coin-joining their money.
Also keep in mind that people use Bitcoin more as an investment than as a currency, and dormant money in a wallet is pretty low profile actually (until you move to sell it, that is).

Monero? Yeah, it's cool, but I'm unsure on how largely it's being used. And even if it had a great year... it's still far from its ATH vs Bitcoin.

What do you think? Will people still use crypto in a country where it's prohibited to do so? Or will they be afraid? What if all of the world's countries turn against crypto (which is very unlikely atm)? Will market prices go all the way to $0?

Your question is a bit strange in a world where crypto is starting to become mainstream, actually.
However, while prohibiting them is indeed a blow from the average Joe's point of view and some will leave the ecosystem, that's for sure, if the coin has a strong user base (and it is indeed useful) then the impact will not be so big - of course, it depends on what country/countries ban it. Some will keep using it no matter what: I know that Monero, although delisted by a huge lot of exchanges, is doing rather good; I've read here and there sparse stories about the use of Bitcoin and altcoins in countries they are banned, but people use them as separate income or investment because they have to,... keep in mind that people are much more resourceful than the governments.
But the world is bigger than a couple of countries, so the market going to 0 is usually not to happen. But it depends a lot on how strong the coin is.

Exactly!! Even if crypto gets banned in some countries, users will always gind their way around it like mixing of coins or using Monero but  not much people are aware of it yet. It’s certain people who have adopted crypto in those countries won’t back down as they know how valuable crypto is. Also, with global adoption growing, worldwide shutdown is far from possible. The possibility of the world turning against crypto is-1 because crypto is resilient so are its users. If the worst case scenario happens, market might dip but never dropping all the way down to $0.

[shinratensei_]

For sure 100% people are still gonna be using it though in smaller scale. It's undeniable that majority of usage is always for investment though bitcoin is also good for payment.
If government somehow out of the blue announce to outlaw BTC, people will sell it and price plummets, but guess what, it won't be completely dead, I'd even say it's still gonna be frequently used, the blockchain would still have many transactions.

The biggest downside is just the price going down. But that's about it, we're used to bitcoin at sub 1k anyway. However, there's really slim chance bitcoin gonna be outlawed.

[Hedis]

Yeah people will still use crypto even if it’s forbidden and that’s just human nature. When anything offers freedom or value, people will discover ways around the rules. Look at how people utilize VPNs or still sell illegal items. In regions where faith in the government or financial system is poor crypto becomes more of a need than a choice and privacy coins like Monero might definitely see increasing use in those circumstances since they’re tougher to track but I don’t think Bitcoin will vanish either because it still has the strongest network and is viewed as digital gold and no I don’t think prices would go to zero even if several nations were against crypto. It would damage short term, certainly but crypto has come too far and is too spread out internationally to suddenly evaporate like that.

[Ucy]

Well, real crypto like Bitcoin is not designed for mainstream use in the first place. Banning it is pointless since the right people will continue using it the right way. It's like creating a decentralized message sharing platform the community try to promote for mainstream use, but governments do not like this mainly because they have no way to control it centrally, and they end up banning it. Ofcourse, people who need or desire such tools will continue using it, while new intending users with similar desire will seek for it until they find it. And then you'll end up with a community of passionate users who will most likely work hard to further develop and keep it decentralized, preventing the platform from deviating from its original goal while it progresses. Increase in decentralized usage means increase in its value and price rather than the opposite. This is exactly what will happen to Bitcoin because the right people will use it the right way where the values are more concentrated. They understand that the value is worth alot and would not sell it below the real worth.
Besides, it will quicken the use of cryptocurrency like Bitcoin on decentralized p2p marketplaces, plus the creation of physical remote communities far away from mainstream societies, suitable for nomadic and offgrid lifestyles. The interest on decentralized satellites or internet would be revived or grow strong.

Things like monero may become necessary under strong anti-crypto tyranny otherwise there could be strong censorship (and hunts for their users mostly due to lack of transparency and high use for crimes). I however think Bitcoin can effectively serve the role of privacy cryptocurrency under the reign of tyrants


 

[Abiky]

For sure 100% people are still gonna be using it though in smaller scale. It's undeniable that majority of usage is always for investment though bitcoin is also good for payment.
If government somehow out of the blue announce to outlaw BTC, people will sell it and price plummets, but guess what, it won't be completely dead, I'd even say it's still gonna be frequently used, the blockchain would still have many transactions.

The biggest downside is just the price going down. But that's about it, we're used to bitcoin at sub 1k anyway. However, there's really slim chance bitcoin gonna be outlawed.

But is it really worth the risk? I mean, most people would be afraid of getting caught by the government. They could either face fines, jail time, or worse-case scenario, death. With market prices going all the way down the drain in an instant, almost no one would use BTC or altcoins. It's has always been about the money.

My guess is that once crypto is "banned" worldwide, BTC will lose investor appeal as a store of value. It will become a digital currency alternative to Fiat. Just like how Satoshi wanted Bitcoin to be used in the first place. At least, most governments are supporting crypto. So an outright "blanket ban" would only be a concern in the distant future. Just buy, "hodl", and forget about the rest.