I wouldn't be shocked as more and more countries may make crypto-currencies illegal. At first it was likely viewed as some new fad that many expected would never take off like it did. But with the growing acceptance and use and availability, especially among younger people, it looks like it can pose an actual threat to the monetary systems of established countries as a possible replacement to the use of existing national currencies, like the U.S. dollar.
In and of itself, that may not necessarily be a bad thing, but were it to become so pervasive in society, the volatility of crypto-currencies could have a devastating effect on certain segments of a population, primarily the poor. It is one thing for the poor to not have a lot of money (ie: dollars), but at least they can rest assured that dollar will always be worth a dollar. With crypto though, those values are constantly changing, and if there is a sudden downturn in value, that can be extremely harmful to people that overnight now may not even be able to buy necessities.
Plus, governments have no real way to possibly control the adverse effects of crypto-currencies, and likely far less effective and/or timely ways to mitigate those negative effects when they inevitably do occur. With dollars, the U.S. Treasury can do things like quantitative easing, and put more currency into the system, or have the Federal Reserve adjust their interest rates to exert some influence and control over the availability of money in the economy, and thus help counter and slow inflation and recessionary trends.
The U.S. is a capitalistic society, with the basic idea that the government is supposed to try and stay out of the economic affairs of businesses and individuals as much as possible. But everyone still looks to the government to take action in times of economic distress and downturns. If crypto becomes that pervasive, it could seriously damage our government's ability to do that.
I wonder if at some point there aren't some governments that just decide to create and monitor their own crypto-currency, and offer that to their citizens as a single, approved crypto method for transacting business in their country, and thereby replace all the privately created ones that the governments have a far less greater chance to understand, or control. These other crypto-currencies out there wouldn't necessarily be outlawed or cease to exist, they just wouldn't be approved and used for common, everyday transactions, just like they originally started out.
I really don't have a complete comprehension of crypto-currency, but have always felt they are truly nothing more than a ponzi scheme. In reality, they really aren't much different than national currencies, like our U.S. dollar which isn't backed by any tangible gold or silver reserves, or anything else, other than the full faith and credit of the United States government. While that may not be or mean much to many people, at least it is something. Who, or what, exactly stands behind any crypto-currency?
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