I don't expect institutions, banks and governments to understand bitcoin and blockchain technology but they should give one of those clever consultants they overpay something to do, so they can look into it and relay the information. If you're a head of state and you want to regulate cryptocurrencies, the first thing you should do is hire somebody who understands it, and that person will come back to your office and tell you very clearly, and calmly, what you can or cannot do with crypto. And almost everything will be a binary option.

"So I heard bitcoin is limited to 21 million, I want to change it to 22 million"

"Not possible, sir"

"Why?"

"Because you can't mandate your way around math."

The more you know and the more you realise that almost everything you can or can't do with bitcoin and blockchain technology is essentially written in the code. Governments should know, for example, that they can regulate a crypto exchange but they can't regulate an actual transaction. They can't stop it, they can't reverse it, intercept it.

The problem - for them - is that they're so used to getting their own way that they can strong-arm everyone and anyone by power of legislation, but that's not that esy with crypto. Some governments probably already know this, and that's why they're jumping on the bandwagon and trying to get their cut. Others keep using the word "ban". Good luck with that.

I've crossposted this article on my blog bitcoinea and LeoFinance.