by Teeka Tiwari, Casey Research:

Chris’ note: Regular readers know we’re bullish on the cryptocurrency market, especially bitcoin, which is up 169% this year.

But now that cryptos are going mainstream (with companies like Facebook planning to launch their own coins soon), there have been plenty of questions about whether the government sees them as a threat… and whether it will try to shut them down.

So today, we’re once again handing things over to my friend and colleague Teeka Tiwari, editor of Palm Beach Confidential. When it comes to cryptos, Teeka’s seen it all… and he wants you to know that you shouldn’t be worried if the government tries to tighten its grip on the market.

Below, he’ll break down why no matter what they do, the feds can’t win a war on bitcoin…

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By Teeka Tiwari, editor, Palm Beach Confidential

Satoshi Nakamoto is the most unstoppable man in the world.

President Trump can’t bully him with tweets. And Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell can’t inflate his currency away…

The Federal Trade Commission can’t fine him. The IRS can’t audit him, either…

Because he lives beyond the reach of governments.

Now, if you’ve never heard of Satoshi Nakamoto, he’s the pseudonymous creator of bitcoin.

No one really knows his true identity. Some people claim to be him. Others say he doesn’t exist.

But it doesn’t matter…

You see, Satoshi Nakamoto represents something much greater than one man. He’s an icon for decentralized, pseudo-anonymous networking.

And that’s what separates “true” cryptocurrencies like bitcoin from corporate knockoffs like Facebook’s Libra.

So today, I’ll show you why governments can’t stop bitcoin’s rise no matter what they do… and why bitcoin may actually benefit from Facebook’s attempt to compete in the crypto space…

U.S. Government Targets Libra

At over $529 billion, Facebook is the fifth-largest U.S. company by market cap. And with a net worth of $62.3 billion, CEO Mark Zuckerberg ranks eighth on Forbes’ Billionaires list.

Yet despite his massive resources, Zuckerberg is no match against the U.S. government.

Let me explain…

Earlier this year, Facebook announced plans to launch its own crypto, Libra. But Libra won’t be a “true” decentralized crypto. It’s merely a digital coin pegged to a basket of major currencies (like the dollar and euro).

But while bitcoin is still too volatile to use as a daily digital currency, Libra could pose a legitimate threat to the U.S. dollar.

Here’s what I wrote recently:

Facebook has a global userbase of nearly 2.4 billion people. Libra’s adoption would be almost immediate if it launched today. It would become the world’s most widely used currency overnight.

And imagine if Facebook negotiates with advertisers to give Libra users 5–10% discounts on all their products and services. How would governments or central banks compete with that?

They can’t – which is why they want to stop Facebook.

And we’re seeing that come to pass…

In a rare instance of bipartisan unity, liberal U.S. Representative Maxine Waters and President Trump both condemned Libra.

Waters demanded Zuckerberg appear before Congress, saying Libra will allow Facebook to “wield immense power that could disrupt” governments and central banks.

And President Trump took to Twitter, saying Libra “will have little standing or dependability.”

The Federal Reserve, French finance ministry, and Bank of England have also come out against it.

Now, we don’t know whether Libra will succeed as a product… The market should decide that. But if the feds have their way, it may never get the chance.

In July, lawmakers proposed a bill to ban Big Tech firms from issuing their own digital currencies. According to Reuters, the “Keep Big Tech Out of Finance Act” could impose up to $1 million in daily fines.

But as hard as they may try, governments can’t shut down true cryptos like bitcoin…

Why You Can’t Kill Bitcoin

Whoever Satoshi Nakamoto is, he designed bitcoin to be a truly decentralized network. Bitcoin runs on a new technology called a blockchain, which doesn’t rely on one central point of control.

This model makes the blockchain much more secure than the internet. You see, data isn’t stored in one location. Instead, it’s distributed across an entire network of computers – making information much harder to hack…

Without getting too much into the weeds, no individual person runs the bitcoin blockchain. It’s peer-to-peer, with no intermediary.

Each computer in the network retains a copy of the blockchain ledger. And the bitcoin blockchain has thousands of computers across the world. So to kill bitcoin, a government would have to shut down every single one.

Remember, these computers are in scores of countries. It’d take a concerted international effort – costing billions of dollars in resources and manpower – to destroy bitcoin. And if even a single computer survives, it can restart the whole shebang.

Unlike Facebook, there’s no bitcoin corporate office the feds can raid… no CEO to haul in front of Congress or into court… and no central point of command you can behead.

Governments simply can’t browbeat Satoshi into submission.

Even China – with one of the more repressive governments in the world – has tried to ban bitcoin. Yet trading still flourishes there. Russia, Vietnam, and Colombia have all tried and failed, too.

And don’t just take our word for it. Even U.S. Representative Patrick McHenry says bitcoin is impervious to government influence. Here’s what he told CNBC recently:

I think there’s no capacity to kill bitcoin. Even the Chinese with their firewall and their extreme intervention in their society could not kill bitcoin.

The Enemy of My Enemy

Crypto sentiment has been negative lately because of the heat Libra’s taking. Investors fear lawmakers will push for sweeping regulations that’ll not only kill Libra – but stifle all cryptos, too.

It’s true… Regulators have a tendency to overreact. And we’ll likely see more negative headlines.

But the bitcoin genie has been out of the bottle for years now. There’s no way to put it back in.

And consider this…

While Facebook and bitcoin aren’t necessarily aligned, it’s in Facebook’s best interest to lobby for a more accommodating crypto regulatory environment. In other words, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Read More @ CaseyResearch.com