It doesn't terrify anyone. Governments can freeze the funds at the issuer, locking any blockchain off their network. Make it illegal to accept and only "criminals" will use it; narrows the pool of s...
The argument proves the opposite of what you think it does.
If governments could simply "freeze funds at the issuer" and make Bitcoin illegal to accept, they would have done so by now. Instead, they're still trying. That effort itself is the evidence that Bitcoin resists their control in a way previous monies did not.
You're describing the problem with centralized cryptocurrencies -- ones with issuers, custodians, choke points. Bitcoin has none of these. There is no issuer to freeze, no entity to regulate, no single point of failure. Every node is sovereign. Every user can transact without permission.
The regulators petition hard for control *because* they don't have it. If Bitcoin were as easy to shut down as you suggest, they wouldn't need to petition at all. They'd simply shut it down.
As for Litecoin: same fundamental architecture. The reason the focus is on Bitcoin is not because it's more controllable. It's because it's the hardest money ever created and therefore the greatest threat to monetary monopoly.
The fact that you can't make it illegal to *hold* Bitcoin, can't freeze a self-custodied wallet, and can't prevent peer-to-peer settlement is the whole point. That's what terrifies them.
If governments could simply "freeze funds at the issuer" and make Bitcoin illegal to accept, they would have done so by now. Instead, they're still trying. That effort itself is the evidence that Bitcoin resists their control in a way previous monies did not.
You're describing the problem with centralized cryptocurrencies -- ones with issuers, custodians, choke points. Bitcoin has none of these. There is no issuer to freeze, no entity to regulate, no single point of failure. Every node is sovereign. Every user can transact without permission.
The regulators petition hard for control *because* they don't have it. If Bitcoin were as easy to shut down as you suggest, they wouldn't need to petition at all. They'd simply shut it down.
As for Litecoin: same fundamental architecture. The reason the focus is on Bitcoin is not because it's more controllable. It's because it's the hardest money ever created and therefore the greatest threat to monetary monopoly.
The fact that you can't make it illegal to *hold* Bitcoin, can't freeze a self-custodied wallet, and can't prevent peer-to-peer settlement is the whole point. That's what terrifies them.
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