I said meaningful hinderances. There are freakin Super Bowl commercials selling Bitcoin to millions of people. This sure doesn't look like a country where Bitcoin is banned to me.
And not only not banned, but not hindered in any way such that it would meaningfully reduce adoption.
And doing a little KYC--which is required for every sort of financial instrument, not just Bitcoin--does not hurt anything.
And for what it's worth, if I understand it correctly, most of that stuff is done voluntarily by the brokerages to protect themselves from fraud, not some commandment from the government. At minimum they would have to do at least some checks or they would get ripped off. This is not some government killing their business through regulation specially targeted at Bitcoin because they want to eliminate Bitcoin because it "competes with the dollar" or something.
While the government may not explicitly aim to eliminate Bitcoin, regulatory actions can impact the ecosystem. For instance, stringent regulations could stifle innovation and deter investment in the industry. It's crucial to acknowledge that regulatory challenges might not manifest as an outright ban but could include restrictive measures that impede the development and adoption of decentralized technologies.
The absence of an outright ban and the visibility of Bitcoin in mainstream media do not necessarily mean that the cryptocurrency faces no hindrances in the U.S. The regulatory landscape is multifaceted, and a more comprehensive understanding is required to evaluate the potential challenges that could affect Bitcoin adoption in the long run.