Yep. Financial instruments are part of the mushroom theory. Keep them in the dark and feed them bullshit.
I first heard of BTC quite a few years ago. I had a couple of friends that were transporting pre-Columbian artifacts out of South America for fun and profit. The government had put so much emphasis on stopping the cocaine trade that they let up on the antiquities trade for a couple of years.
My friend called BTC 'smuggler money'. Put USD in without any viable transaction and take it out as needed locally. So they never crossed any borders with cash. I wonder if they ended up with any sub $100 BTC? I'd guess yes.
What is interesting is that while people ocus on tech innovation, the most value adding innovation by far, has been in the financial sector - where very few can play.
The real question is - did they hold? :D
I lost track of them. Did they go to jail? Dead? Just time to move on? I could imagine a scenario for any of those options. I'll bet if they got jail they held :)
Wouldn't be a bad saving scheme - buy bitcoin early - go to jail til moon.