Since large numbers of the bureaucrats who really run the machine that pretends to be the US government are idiots, they might actually try to ban Bitcoin. But I think that other powerful elite factions will stop that before it happens, since many at or near the top are intelligent enough to see the inevitability of Bitcoin adoption. If they do try a ban, it will probably be about as effective as China's (six and counting) "bans" on Bitcoin, all of which have totally failed. FDR's ban on gold also failed, though it took 40 years. I'd give a Bitcoin ban 40 weeks at most, maybe 40 hours. It's hard to ban something which has no CEO, no BOD, no HQ, and consists of a worldwide network that just runs itself, all protecting an asset that can be kept (and transported anywhere instantly) just by memorizing twelve words.