LOL I love when people say BTC is only good for money laundering etc. Yeah, and no one launders money in US Dollars? Jesus Christ..
It is pretty much impossible to stop BTC. You can try to call it "illegal" somehow, but it is pretty much impossible to contain now that the cat is out of the bag.
US Dollars are used in legitimate businesses as well. No so if bitcoins become illegal to conduct business with.
Stop. That's your stupidity right there. Bitcoins is used for placement and layering. It is the mechanism which allows this. US dollars is the objective of money laundering. These are two different concepts. Dumbfuck.
It's not illegal now because the market is too small yet. Eventually the government would want to take charge. If it can not be regulated then it might well be banned.
As discussed, because of its decentralized nature, it is difficult to prosecute people and completely stop its use. However, if US govt outlaws bitcoins, no online website will accept it. The point where bitcoins differ from P2P sharing like bittorrent is that using bittorrent people transfer files from one computer to another and use it for personal use. In case of bitcoins, if it becomes outlawed, it will be extremely easy for police to prosecute websites which continue to accept bitcoins. Online websites are afterall real businesses with TAXID numbers, their addresses, their promoters etc. Which US based online business will take the risk to accept bitcoins if Washington outlaws it. This is a big risk. Don't you think so? Agreed, businesses outside US might continue to accept bitcoins but then it will shrink the user base of bitcoins dramatically. Unless and until some other sovereign like Russia comes in and says they are going to support trade in Bitcoins. But I would venture to say that instead of accepting bitcoins, chances are they will launch their own crccy.
Good luck with all that. Everywhere is basically AML/KYC compliant unless you buy from local people. I would say 85% of the community transacts with AML/KYC regulations. There is nothing new here.