Bitcoin is unique in that it is far more decentralized than the majority of web services we employ today. But is Bitcoin immune to government regulation? Bitcoin was designed to be a highly secure and decentralized system, but it is vital to remember that its most fundamental components are people, who are inherently unreliable and unpredictable.
When people are asked whether the Bitcoin network can be regulated or not, they usually respond in a binary manner. On the one hand, some argue that anything can be governed. Others, on the other hand, believe that Bitcoin has irrevocably divorced money from the state. This essay aims to provide a better understanding of what Bitcoin regulation entails and what instruments authorities might use to curb its adoption.
For the purposes of this article, regulation refers to state-mandated legal restrictions. Laws, however, are not the only factors that shape society. Professor Lawrence Lessig proposes three further constraints that gove...
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