Bitcoin will greatly reduce the power of the state, which rests entirely on its capacity for violence. This capacity is maintained by paying and equipping people to commit violence on its behalf, and it acquires the resources to do so by printing money, collecting taxes, and issuing debt.

Bitcoin hurts the ability of the state…

…to print money by forcing it to compete with a highly liquid deflationary asset.

…to collect taxes by providing individuals with the means to store wealth and transfer funds while avoiding regulated entities with mandatory reporting requirements.

…to issue debt, because the creditworthiness of the state is backstopped by its ability to print money and collect taxes.

I have been expecting for quite some time that USG would take decisive action against Bitcoin, and have been gobsmacked, on an ongoing basis, that this action has not come.

If I were a statist, I would be shouting from the rooftops that Bitcoin must be stopped. Or, more likely, I would be whispering into some politician's ear: It is what you fear it could be.

But I am not. So I am gleeful.