Are the best days for the Bitcoins company already in the rear view mirror? That’s what renowned economist Simon Johnson told attendees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Review’s EmTech conference recently.
According to Johnson, who is also a a professor of entrepreneurship at the school’s Sloan School of Management, the Bitcoin economy is going to be getting more attention from world governments in the months ahead. That’s bad news for the upstart digital currency because those same world governments aren’t too keen on the idea of disruptive technologies that shake up the global currency market.
In his talk Johnson warned:
There is going to be a big political backlash. And the question is whether the people behind those currencies are ready for that and have their own political strategy.
His statements were driven home when the US Government took down the notorious Silk Road, a hot stop on the deep Web where illegal drug peddlers used Bitcoins to hide their tracks while openly selling LSD, heroin and much more in a wrecklessly open manner.
That’s not to say that Johnson is anti-Bitcoin. The professor praised Bitcoins for shaking up the old way of doing things, but doesn’t think anonymity is an excuse for breaking the law. At the same time, he suggests that Bitcoin users get proactive about regulation before world governments beat them to the punch.
As good as Johnson’s advice is, it seems doubtful that end-users who crave anonymous transactions will be lining up for government regulation anytime soon.