Bitcoin Forum

Economy => Economics => Topic started by: meangreen on April 17, 2013, 11:20:58 PM



Title: Question about a whale buying all the coins up
Post by: meangreen on April 17, 2013, 11:20:58 PM
  Just speaking hypothetically. If some billionaire decided to buy every bitcoin he could get his hands on and there were only 1 million in that could be traded, do you think bitcoin would survive or would another currency be adopted?


Title: Re: Question for everyone.
Post by: Stephen Gornick on April 18, 2013, 12:03:06 AM
Just speaking hypothetically. If some billionaire decided to buy every bitcoin he could get his hands on and there were only 1 million in that could be traded, do you think bitcoin would survive or would another currency be adopted?

Ok it "only" took a few hundred million USD (at most) of buying to blast the exchange rate from $13.53 on January first to $266 one hundred days later.

So the exchange rate would rise so fast that the billionaire, even Carlos Slim, would run out of money long before the market would give up millions of bitcoins.

But I think your point is, if 90% of bitcoins were held by speculators who could dump them in an instant versus maybe 50% of bitcoins being used as a trading currency, would bitcoin still be able to survive?

I think we are already above 90% of that, except it is not a single billionaire that holds them, it is hundreds of thousands of individuals -- not all of whom would be willing to dump them at the same time.  So yes, it is bad for bitcoins to be concentrated in fewer hands than in many hands.

[p.s., Please update the title with something related to your question.   "Question for everyone" is a pretty generic title.]


Title: Re: Question for everyone.
Post by: Wuji on April 18, 2013, 02:00:54 AM
Just speaking hypothetically. If some billionaire decided to buy every bitcoin he could get his hands on and there were only 1 million in that could be traded, do you think bitcoin would survive or would another currency be adopted?
Ok it "only" took a few hundred million (at most) of buying to blast the exchange rate from $13.53 on January first to $266 one hundred days later.

So the exchange rate would rise so fast that the billionaire, even Carlos Slim, would run out of money long before the market would give up millions of bitcoins.

Well something I posted in speculation that didn't get much notice was this same idea only with 10 people instead of a whale.  There are plenty of investing groups that have been friends for decades and could pool a few $100 million together.  I normally hate conspiracy theories but this one seems so easy and plausible.

Edit - I mean I don't believe in a constant manipulator.  A group like this would only make moves every now and then when it makes sense.  Like starting a rally to $200+ (after the Cyprus news) and then selling down as fast as possible.  I just wanted to distinguish that because i find the idea of a manipulator making slight changes a bit more silly.  Especially with how many traders are now active.


Title: Re: Question about a whale buying all the coins up
Post by: Razick on April 18, 2013, 01:03:07 PM
  Just speaking hypothetically. If some billionaire decided to buy every bitcoin he could get his hands on and there were only 1 million in that could be traded, do you think bitcoin would survive or would another currency be adopted?

He would be likely to sell them off as the price rose, putting them back in circulation.