FWIW I've run into a lot of regulatory people who have pretty clear views that Bitcoin mining should be regulated such that addresses are blacklisted or even whitelisted. Obviously that's a goal, not necessarily what they'll succeed in making happen, but that's what the long-term intent is. For instance, one regulator I talked to a few months ago at a conference was *very* clear in her view that the Bitcoin protocol simply must be changed to add verified digital identities to the protocol itself, and mining blocks with transactions without valid identities and/or extending blockchains with non-compliant transactions should be an illegal activity that's prosecuted.

More and more I see it likely that Bitcoin is going to become "the worst nightmare we could have ever imagined".

Mike Hearn is one of those that will be remembered as a person that "paved the way to hell with good intentions".

As a person I actually have found him to be okay so it is disappointing that he just doesn't seem to see what it is that he has decided to support (which is complete totalitarian control over everyone's finances).

In the future I predict we'll miss when we had "cash".