Yep, in the United States under FDR Executive Order 6102 it was illegal to own gold from 1933 to 1974. You were made out to be a horrible person if you owned gold. Think about how crazy that is (especially in a supposedly free country). You have some gold the size of a paperweight on your desk, and overnight the govt says you are a criminal for having that.
The US was on a gold standard, which limited govt spending. The govt didn't like that, and wanted to start spending like crazy, so it basically just stole its citizens' money. And it could happen again. Govts could attempt to ban, or confiscate, or impose absurd taxes on bitcoin, or gold, or anything except govt money. Govts and bankers have a good little scam going where they can just create more money whenever they want. They're not likely to give that up easily in the countries that currently control the global financial system. The system is patently unfair, but it's unfair to their advantage. In the first block of the bitcoin blockchain (17 years ago today, actually; Jan 3 2009), after the 2008 financial crisis, the creator embedded the message, "Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks," from The Times. This served as somewhat of a timestamp and a political statement against government-backed financial rescues, highlighting the need for a trustless, independent monetary system.
It might also go a long way to prevent wars when govts can't just create more money to cover the cost of whatever war they want to start
I'm not sure it's even a good idea to drag bitcoin back into the pre-existing financial system, with the same group of bankers and financial intermediaries controlling your bitcoin. This has more of a quick buck mentality than a long term plan. It makes bitcoin centralized if the govt ever wanted to confiscate it. The idea should not be to pump and dump something, but to build a much fairer financial system that can last for hundreds or thousands of years. The original idea was to build something totally separate and apart from that old, unfair system.
Whether or not it will work out that way is anybody's guess. But I cringe when I hear people touting that bitcoin is obviously going to be worth $378 cajillion dollars per coin, as if it's just a matter of time. There are still plenty of risks, and govt interference is not a small one
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