Bitcoin Forum

Has there ever been a mining farm that was fully or partially funded by the government? I know there have been plenty of private ones, but I've never seen one with gov backing. I think it would be interesting to see if any of them will make a move on it anytime soon

No.. goverment's for the most part support their own fiat money.

No goverment has came in so far and started to make bitcoin.   US goverment seized a heck of a lot then sold it in auction.  As far as goverment having BTC I think that seizure was only time a government has a significant amount of BTC.

I think they buy it when needed.  To catch "bad guys" I do think they purchase BTC to be part off the darker side of btc world.

not that I know of, then again there can be people who allocate funds to their own personal ways.

its not anything new, since we seen all levels of corruption and they can personally send funds to private operations.

but most of that usually catches up since, relabel invoices dont match up with the books.

too late-2/3 were already mined.
they would have to mostly buy it when needed

I don't think they would be worried about price if they did.  But it takes a active imagination to think a government is doing a big operation of mining to say the least.

Sadly there are some bad things BTC is used.  Most BTC are not used for bad things, but as long as some is governments will  use BTC.  Because of crimes I'm sure they have wallets.   But they would be more worried about putting people in jail not cost.

Maintenance of a bitcoin like network will eventually come to be seen as a public good and undertaken by governments or public utilities and subsidized by taxes because it will be economically unprofitable.

I just see nothing to support this.  And which government?  We have a world full of governments.

I think it will remain in private business hands on mining.  I do think it's possible many countries might come out with more regulation as far as BTC, but don't see them actively mining it.

That is true, it wouldn't seem to make sense to have any mining from them. But at what point do you think governments will take bitcoin more seriously in terms of providing services for it (if it ever happens) and regulating it beyond just basic taxation? And could you see it being implemented in big financial institutes like banks, or recognized as an official currency for exchange, much like the dollar or euro?

I think if we reach a point where government regulate it, bitcoin will actually gain from it. (Assuming no crazy legislation) It will get bitcoin talked about in a good light.  And it means we have reached higher acceptance.

If you look things such as exchanges have regulation in place already.  It keeps them from being money laundering.

Fact is crypto currency is still early in it's life.  We don't know what the future holds.

Yeah, I think it would be awesome one day if you were at an airport visiting a different country and you could go to an exchange booth and be like hey I'd like to exchange my bitcoin into whatever currency. And it would be bought off you (probably at a ridiculous price, as is custom at airport exchanges) but you would get the cash you need for your trip. Maybe this will be a very common thing one day

Why would a government fund a farm? What explanation would be for them why they spend money this way?

There is almost no reason.  Only one I can think of is if you put a farm in unstable place, and government take it.  (Slim chance of this as data centers are built in stable countries).

If a government needs BTC for something.... they will buy it.

I think he s aiming towards a farm being built by some public funds, donation, etc.

This simply does not happen, not in a developed world. Maybe some African dictatorship might consider it.

More likely a dictatorship would invite someone to do it in their country and then just take over.

I agree governments will stay out of mining.

I could see North Korea making some farms, but other governments would have little use for it.  It would be easier and more effective for governments to just buy bitcoins if they needed them.

I see can see this possibly happening.  Silently accumlating btc.

It would not be silent... you can see the pools that solve block.  Either someone would notice a additional hash, or shipments of equipment, etc.

Governments will not be mining BTC.  When the US had lot's of btc from silk road they even auctioned it off.