Governments can shut down the core developers, or at least force them into hiding and force them to use nyms (like they should do, as cypherpunks anyways).
But stopping people from downloading and running some code… well on a closed eco system like Apple App Store, sure, you can pressure a company into compliance, but how are you going to stop determined people? Who download and share code over I2P and TOR?
It’s off course true that if it really came to this globally, the price of bitcoin would probably tumble and be more compatible to other currently more privacy forward coins like Monero .
Well, you make it a capital office, or less draconian... make it an offense punishable by 10 years of hard labour in a dire penal camp somewhere cold.
In addition you make it an offense to fail to disclose knowledge of the use of such capabilities, and you institute a system of rewards to positively encourage disclosure.
Perhaps you call it social credit.
You are correct that there are a few people who would defy such a system, a very few.
But stopping people from downloading and running some code… well on a closed eco system like Apple App Store, sure, you can pressure a company into compliance, but how are you going to stop determined people? Who download and share code over I2P and TOR?
It’s off course true that if it really came to this globally, the price of bitcoin would probably tumble and be more compatible to other currently more privacy forward coins like Monero .