Easily be stopped? Hardly. You have to realize that the government is slow to react. Even if the US outlaws bitcoins or another countries does then there are still 200+ other countries where it is legal.
This was the first glaring nonsense I saw when discovering BTC. "The invincible geek" you guys are getting way way ahead of your self. There are 10,000, 800 pd gorillas (i.e. goverments, mobs, hacker groups etc etc) that WILL F&ck your Sh%t up! After all the chest beating and other utter nonsense I saw spewed about untouchability, people then started getting hacked. MT.Gox is a MAJOR vulnerability for the BTC community. YOu essentially have one company handling 90% of the BTC economy, and how many people there are defending it with what skills....all unknown. The latest security hole seemed like a no brainer, but it existed. Youve got ALOT of growing up to do. The ongoing gorilla assault will speed that along.