“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”–
George Santayana
"Executive Order 6102 is an executive order signed on April 5, 1933, by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt "forbidding the hoarding of gold coin, gold bullion, and gold certificates within the continental United States." The executive order was made under the authority of the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, as amended by the Emergency Banking Act in March 1933.
The stated reason for the order was that hard times had caused "hoarding" of gold, stalling economic growth and worsened the depression"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102
It is only a matter of time before bitcoin has a major breakout of acceptance. It will come just as sudden as the price explosion. The more violently it rises the more people seek to buy it and the more merchants seek to accept it. It has already become the currency of choice for so many people.
The common belief is that because it's decentralized there is nothing a government / governments can do. If that's what you believe, you really have learned nothing about the powers of governments especially when they are faced with a threat as serious as their currency being undermined and possibly made irrelevant eventually.
The US dollar is currently the worlds reserve currency. Having that status means a lot. If the US did not have that status, it would be nothing but a laughing stock at this point given the trillions in debt. The US also wields incredible powers thanks to the control of the international banking system. It is the only country that has real financial sanction powers.
A big amount of bitcoin right now is owned by major financial institutions. I assure you that before they purchased a single coin, they setup a mechanism that allows them to unload it all in the event of an emergency.
Big institutions know you never go to war with a government, this is why they are big institutions. For those of you that invest in stocks, did you ever see what happens to a stock when the company announces they were served with a Wells Notice? Institutions don't wait, regular investors do, and before you could log in to sell your shares, the stock has already collapsed, probably way below the price you paid for it.
Governments can use many arguments why they must go after crypto. They could say it funds a lot of illegal activity that is hard to trace, they could argue that without it, the ransomware attacks and others like it would not have been that commonplace. They could create whatever they need to create to start a process that scares institutions into selling thus destroying the price and confidence on crypto. They do not have to do away with it, they just have to make people (the big holders) feel very uncomfortable.
The same rapid rise up could be a rapid decline down, it is impossible to imagine that right now.
My personal plan is that the absolute second I start seeing the government go on the defensive, I will sell every bit of crypto (not much) that I have. At that time probably ill buy gold, it will be a natural place some institutions will go as they unload their bitcoin.
The big mistake people make is thinking that governments need to eliminate bitcoin for it to drop to nothing, that is wrong (I am repeating) they just have to create enough issues whereas institutions jump ship.
The current US administration and the social media companies that control a nice chunk of human brains are on good terms. Big tech is trying to be on good terms as many legal battles against them are in motion by various government agencies. It is very likely when the government decides to start the narrative that bitcoin is dangerous, you will see all of the big tech companies and major news networks helping along and soon to say otherwise will make you a "bad terrible person".
So what should you do now? I am not giving investment advice here, just some theoretical tips. Continue to accept bitcoin or buy it with only amounts you are comfortable losing (at least a portion of it). Be ready to jump ship the minute you see regulators start discussions about cracking down or the minute you see a lot of stories everywhere about the bad things caused by bitcoin. By the time you go to sell you will probably already see a huge decline, don't wait, it will only go down more, you will be able to buy back for less when things settle a little.
Institutions will lose too, they won't be back for a while, so the climb back up will not be like it is now.