I don't think it's hard to imagine a near future in which the US Government outlaws the use of bitcoin within its borders. In fact I'd almost guarantee that outcome. Bitcoin is far too threatening to the establishment (from the likes of Visa and Paypal to the Treasury and Fed due to the monetary aspects). If they owned it or could control it, that might be a different story.<p>Indeed, I'll pin a time table on it. At the current growth rate, within 24 months the first calls to outlaw bitcoin will echo from some Senator or House member's office in DC. It'll lead to blanket legislation targeting bitcoin and any similar services that could exist in the future.
As all transactions are public, what would stop a government creating a blacklist of bitcoin transactions?<p>Permanently banning legitimate businesses and bitcoin exchanges/banks from accepting coins from 'tainted' wallets that have received these transactions (as well as parent and grandparent wallets).<p>I accept that there are use cases when this isn't a problem, but being able to transfer wealth from one currency to another is a feature that a lot of successful currencies have.
Here's a free guide on how to buy bitcoins in America:<p><a href="http://howdoyoubuybitcoins.com/in/united-states/" rel="nofollow">http://howdoyoubuybitcoins.com/in/united-states/</a><p>Hope it's helpful. Please let me know if it can be improved.
Here's a list of online stores that accept Bitcoin:<p><a href="http://www.bitcoinstore.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.bitcoinstore.com/</a>
<a href="http://bitcoincoffee.com/" rel="nofollow">http://bitcoincoffee.com/</a>
<a href="http://www.bitcoinin.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.bitcoinin.com/</a>
<a href="http://www.bitcoinblaster.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.bitcoinblaster.com/</a>
<a href="http://www.bitmit.net/en/recent" rel="nofollow">http://www.bitmit.net/en/recent</a> (like eBay for BTC)<p>There's a bunch more out there (and growing), that's just a starter list.<p>There's also a whole bunch of gambling sites (surprise) which will take BTC now.<p>I think Bitcoin will take over all online gambling sites, then all Usenet sites, it will become the go-to currency for all virtual good buying/selling, and now all private torrent trackers, all they need is someone like Wikipedia or Reddit to start accepting BTC and it's game over, I think.
If you used PayPal to accept donations for a controversial / illegal service such as a private torrent tracker you're foolish. It was only a matter of time before PayPal shut down these accounts.<p>For that matter, anyone who trusts PayPal is foolish. Keeping money in a PP account is a great way to lose it.