U.S. Government Mining Bitcoins

[Kyraishi]

I would say no.
The U.S. government likes to control wealth and likes centralization.
So chances are that they will create their own version of Bitcoin and NYSE, NASDAQ, etc, will accept it.

If the U.S. government doesn't create their own crypto-currency and choose Bitcoin then you know who Satoshi is 
Just saying.....

That doesn't help them with controlling Bitcoin at all. Making an alternative coin doesn't help you in regards to Bitcoin.
If they wanted to have control they would either mine or buy as much as they can. I already suspect that some countries are slowly buying in, without raising suspicion or prices.
I mean imagine someone buying in only 10 Bitcoins a day for a whole year. That would not cause suspicion nor have any effect on the price.

Exactly!
And if they can't control it, they will try and bash it (as much as possible) and create their own coin.
It is already happening with all the licenses, regulations and bad media news.

[sdmathis]

Does anyone think that the U.S. Government would ever get involved in mining bitcoins? 

I could see if bitcoin was the backbone of our financial system (which I believe is starting right now with the NASDAQ trials) the U.S. Government could possibly become the world's largest miner in order to help assure the security of the bitcoin network.  They wouldn't sit by idle while China does the majority of the mining.  Then I think other governments would join in to insure their own security as well.

This could also provide revenue for the governments possibly alleviating the tax burden placed on citizens.

Is this a possible outcome??

I seriously doubt it. Bitcoin is so small that if it were a business, it would barely qualify as Mid Cap. Small potatoes for the government.

[AtheistAKASaneBrain]

Why mine it when you can create and shut down deepweb marketplaces on a bimonthly basis?

Not only this, but they got enough money to buy all of the supply. They can print money literally for god sakes. What stops them from buying a ton of it? probably being unaware.

[hector3115]

Not now obviously, but what I said was if bitcoin becomes the backbone of our financial system then they will have an obligation to help secure the blockchain.  Regulated mining could stabilize things a lot more.  International laws could be put in place to guard against various attacks.

My bet is within 10 years the us government will have significant mining operations.

A lot can happen in 10 years.

[Beefcake]

No, I don't think that the us government would mine bitcoins.  If they wanted them they would just buy them.  However it would be against their best interest: USD is already the world reserve currency, so the gov would not be likely to start using another currency.

[hector3115]

But it wouldnt be smart to run our financial system off the blockchain and take no steps to secure it ourselves and leave that to Chinese miners

[achow101]

I feel that by the time Congress figures out what Bitcoin is and its usefulness, the benefits of mining Bitcoin on a large scale would be very low. I think by that point, the block reward would only be transaction fees and thus the government would have a very small return on their investment in mining equipment. I think that they would simply go the other way of getting Bitcoin which is to tax every citizen using it, but that would be very difficult. Furthermore, I think that they would try to destroy Bitcoin since it is hard for them to control and make money off of it. The pseudonymous nature of Bitcoin also makes it difficult to track unlike bank accounts where names and IDs are associated with everything and can be easily traced.

[ajareselde]

Not now obviously, but what I said was if bitcoin becomes the backbone of our financial system then they will have an obligation to help secure the blockchain.  Regulated mining could stabilize things a lot more.  International laws could be put in place to guard against various attacks.

My bet is within 10 years the us government will have significant mining operations.

A lot can happen in 10 years.

A lot can happen in 10 yrs, but US government mining bitcoin is not one of the even remotely likely possibility.

Does anyone think that the U.S. Government would ever get involved in mining bitcoins?  

I could see if bitcoin was the backbone of our financial system (which I believe is starting right now with the NASDAQ trials) the U.S. Government could possibly become the world's largest miner in order to help assure the security of the bitcoin network.  They wouldn't sit by idle while China does the majority of the mining.  Then I think other governments would join in to insure their own security as well.

This could also provide revenue for the governments possibly alleviating the tax burden placed on citizens.

Is this a possible outcome??

The shortest answer to your question would be no, not a chance that will ever happen.
Look, they could, but they wont, since bitcoin on a global scale is tiny fraction of their attention. Also, if they do that, they would push bitcoin on the spotlight and many others would follow them into
mining war. It is safe to say that this is never going to happen.

Ever heard of civil forfeiture? Now that's a way more effective way of getting bitcoins with zero effort. Basically they could seize any wallet under the assumption that it could be used for illegal activity,
even if you are in no way associated with any such thing. Look it up, those laws in USA are insane sometimes, giving way too much power to police dept. that's filling their budget exploiting it.

cheers

[melody82]

I doubt the government would officially mine it, but I would not be surprised if the cia or other organization did as a part of a dark ops.  All the money that goes missing in our government, who knows?

[pitaluga]

they could mine to take the control of the system. after that, they could change the protocol as they want or make a 51% atack and turn off this shit

[achow101]

they could mine to take the control of the system. after that, they could change the protocol as they want or make a 51% atack and turn off this shit

They cannot change the protocol without modifying the source, and if they did so, no one would use their client and the core devs would not allow the commits to be made into the open source repository. They cannot do this through mining.

A 51% attack cannot turn off Bitcoin. It could prevent people from sending transactions, but it would also be a massive waste of resources in order to prevent the transactions indefinitely.

[pitham1]

They can just introduce an additional Bitcoin tax, which should be paid in bitcoins.
Big corporations which enter the Bitcoin space will want to stay on the right side of the law and pay up!

[Kprawn]

The US government is mining the private mining farms with TAX.  ... If I was in government, I would rather subsidize private mining farms with reduced taxation and cheaper electricity to mine for them.

They will still receive 30% to 40% back in taxes {IRS / VAT etc.} for a lot less investment. {No salaries for employees to run these operations OR to secure it and no infrastructure and hardware cost}

This will be the best route to follow.. and it will also be better for the global Bitcoin community. {Do you as a miner want the government to compete with you, with your own TAX money?}

Western dominance in Bitcoin development already scare away some countries. Let's not increase this fear. 

[Amph]

they could mine to take the control of the system. after that, they could change the protocol as they want or make a 51% atack and turn off this shit

it was already in the equation that any mining attempts that aims at buying a lot of asic equipments for the only purpose of generating a 51% is not profitable at all, compared to using the same power for mining instead

[Kyraishi]

The US government is mining the private mining farms with TAX.  ... If I was in government, I would rather subsidize private mining farms with reduced taxation and cheaper electricity to mine for them.

They will still receive 30% to 40% back in taxes {IRS / VAT etc.} for a lot less investment. {No salaries for employees to run these operations OR to secure it and no infrastructure and hardware cost}

This will be the best route to follow.. and it will also be better for the global Bitcoin community. {Do you as a miner want the government to compete with you, with your own TAX money?}

Western dominance in Bitcoin development already scare away some countries. Let's not increase this fear. 

That actually sounds more of a possible scenario.
And they are already farming the mining farms with tax, plus taxing the power companies that provide power to the mining farms.

[jehst]

Why mine when you can seize? The US government was, at one point, almost certainly one of the top 5 largest holders of bitcoin in the world. $0 spent on mining equipment.

[Febo]

Does anyone think that the U.S. Government would ever get involved in mining bitcoins? 

I could see if bitcoin was the backbone of our financial system (which I believe is starting right now with the NASDAQ trials) the U.S. Government could possibly become the world's largest miner in order to help assure the security of the bitcoin network.  They wouldn't sit by idle while China does the majority of the mining.  Then I think other governments would join in to insure their own security as well.

This could also provide revenue for the governments possibly alleviating the tax burden placed on citizens.

Is this a possible outcome??

Why should country doing business? That sounds like a socialist country. You think USA will join Cuba and China on their road to Socialism? It proved many times in past private owned companies does much better then country owned, since actual politic elite will always do first for their good then for country good.

[jehst]

Does anyone think that the U.S. Government would ever get involved in mining bitcoins?  

I could see if bitcoin was the backbone of our financial system (which I believe is starting right now with the NASDAQ trials) the U.S. Government could possibly become the world's largest miner in order to help assure the security of the bitcoin network.  They wouldn't sit by idle while China does the majority of the mining.  Then I think other governments would join in to insure their own security as well.

This could also provide revenue for the governments possibly alleviating the tax burden placed on citizens.

Is this a possible outcome??

Why should country doing business? That sounds like a socialist country. You think USA will join Cuba and China on their road to Socialism? It proved many times in past private owned companies does much better then country owned, since actual politic elite will always do first for their good then for country good.

Japan, South Korea, and Singapore's governments were heavily involved in business during the industrialization of those countries. I wouldn't call it socialist. It's more like state capitalism as they were using state resources to try to actually make money.

[Light]

I can't understand why they'd need to. From their perspective they have control over the USD to a great extent and it currently dominates markets in terms of usage and as a financial tool. If they ever felt threatened by the existence of Bitcoin they could simply choose to ban it by passing legislation - and you're not going to see the disappearance of the USD without the disappearance of America itself. It's so incredibly unlikely that I doubt the US government would even be worried, at best Bitcoin can co-exist with other currencies - I doubt I'll see a day when Bitcoin dominates all currencies.

[thejaytiesto]

I can't understand why they'd need to. From their perspective they have control over the USD to a great extent and it currently dominates markets in terms of usage and as a financial tool. If they ever felt threatened by the existence of Bitcoin they could simply choose to ban it by passing legislation - and you're not going to see the disappearance of the USD without the disappearance of America itself. It's so incredibly unlikely that I doubt the US government would even be worried, at best Bitcoin can co-exist with other currencies - I doubt I'll see a day when Bitcoin dominates all currencies.

Banning BTC would only bring more attention to it. It could potentially hurt it mainstream adoption wise, but it will forever be alive as a sort of cryto anarchy currency and keep growing infinitely in the deep web.