If you had $10,000,000 to launch Bitcoin...

[Bimmerhead]

I've never been involved with a community before quite like bitcoin.org.  It is fascinating for me to see the bitcoin ecosystem evolve and grow.  Everyday members are bringing up ideas to grow bitcoin, or sites and products are being developed around bitcoin in a very organic way.

But what if you suddenly had the option of doing it differently?  What if you were chosen to head up the development and roll out of the bitcoin 'product' by some venture capitalists who were going to give you $10,000,000 to accomplish the launch?

How would you do it?  What would be the steps you would take to move bitcoin from where it is to being where you want it to go?

[kiba]

It would be a very different direction if you're looking to make money.

Better to organize a few rich libertarian donors.

[Anonymous]

Bitcoin is great the way it is except it has no intrinsic backing. That will change if we can get bitdns working - making bitcoin even more awesome.




Now if Peter Thiel wants to donate....

[ribuck]

...What if you were chosen to head up the development and roll out of the bitcoin 'product' by some venture capitalists who were going to give you $10,000,000 to accomplish the launch?

I wouldn't do it that way, because venture capitalists are hoping to eventually extract at least as much value as they put in "up front".

If I found $10,000,000 in the street, I would work on the domain name registration idea. Although this makes some people uneasy, I think it would be fantastic for bitcoin by entrenching it as something of economic relevance.

[davout]

Bitcoin is great the way it is except it has no intrinsic backing.

Nothing has intrinsic backing, except the food i can put in my mouth

[Anonymous]

Bitcoin is great the way it is except it has no intrinsic backing.

Nothing has intrinsic backing, except the food i can put in my mouth

Of course. Its all about perceptions.

[Bimmerhead]

If the cash was just given only for the purpose of making bitcoin great without trying to recover it,

The beauty of bitcoin is even if a particular venture within bitcoin (a store, exchange, application) isn't profitable in itself, it is still beneficial to do things that support the growth of the bitcoin economy because the value of your bitcoin holdings will increase.

It may be worth it for an investor to spend $10 million just on spreading the word about bitcoin because his holdings of bitcoin will appreciate so much as it becomes widely adopted.

A thousand-fold increase in the value of bitcoins from here isn't hard to foresee.  $4 billion in valuation is still a drop in the bucket of the internet economy.

[ribuck]

It may be worth it for an investor to spend $10 million just on spreading the word about bitcoin because his holdings of bitcoin will appreciate so much as it becomes widely adopted.

Go for it, Artforz!

[RHorning]

But what if you suddenly had the option of doing it differently?  What if you were chosen to head up the development and roll out of the bitcoin 'product' by some venture capitalists who were going to give you $10,000,000 to accomplish the launch?

How would you do it?  What would be the steps you would take to move bitcoin from where it is to being where you want it to go?

If there were a bunch of venture capitalists who were going to give me $10 million USD to develop some kind of product or service, I would expect to come up with some sort of business plan that would return that $10 million in dollars with some sort of additional return to make it worth their effort, also in dollars.  If they are interested in Bitcoins, they should instead directly "invest" in Bitcoins either through an exchange or by mining and have some sort of venture where the investment is also being done in Bitcoins.

That is why I proposed setting up a Bitcoin stock exchange where at least bitcoin denominated stock could be exchanged.  The idea is on the backburner for me at the moment, but something I do intend to get working on in the near future.  Much of the stuff going into the "DomainCoin" concept is likely going to be implemented with this exchange idea as well.

[chaord]

Better to organize a few rich libertarian donors.

As we do seek capital, I think it's important that our investors also share our mindset.  Bitcoin will likely be a bumpy ride and we want to make sure that our investors are in for the long haul and philosophically committed as well as financially.  Truthfully, when the time comes I think gaining an audience with Peter Thiel is a worthy goal.

If the cash was just given only for the purpose of making bitcoin great without trying to recover it, you'd hire a few teams to polish the program up a little bit, put more api's in place for shops, build carts on it, more resources available to it.

You could set up a solid money exchanger registered with the gov to make it easy to in and out money.

Partnerships with nationwide (worldwide) companies where you could walk in with cash and be able to redeem a token of some sort for bitcoins.

Make sure the system is nice and secure with independent audits.

Then dump the rest of the money into a worldwide blitz on tv and internet advertising.

$10 mil is a lot of money and could go a long way in a short time.

I tend to agree that something along these lines would be the best use of the $10M if there was no need for immediate return, especially the legitimate money exchanger part.


Bitcoin is breaking a lot of very entrenched molds, and for that reason, when investors do come knocking I'm hoping the structure of investments will be slightly different than normal as well.

Personally, I am wondering what sort of capital (BTC & $) all of us as a community could come up with.  Outside venture capital is always the most expensive money and it always has considerable strings attached.  If we can figure out a defined enough plan for a community venture where contributors of capital can see a return, I think this would be the best route.

[ribuck]

I would contribute some venture capital for the "right" business.

[Bimmerhead]

Personally, I am wondering what sort of capital (BTC & $) all of us as a community could come up with.  Outside venture capital is always the most expensive money and it always has considerable strings attached.  If we can figure out a defined enough plan for a community venture where contributors of capital can see a return, I think this would be the best route.

+1 I love this idea.  Kickstarter for bitcoin with the possibility of payback.

[kiba]

+1 I love this idea.  Kickstarter for bitcoin with the possibility of payback.

Bitcoin stock markets and bitcoin corporation that are not officially listed in any government registary. Based entirely on the reputation of the corporation.

Shareholders can be completely anonymous.

[S3052]

I would contribute some venture capital for the "right" business.

+1 I am also in for the right business plan and purpose, staying as legitimate as possible.

[Bitquux]

I would buy every bitcoin in existence and then loan them to the government at interest to use as currency...

Just kidding! 

[MoonShadow]

+1 I love this idea.  Kickstarter for bitcoin with the possibility of payback.

Bitcoin stock markets and bitcoin corporation that are not officially listed in any government registary. Based entirely on the reputation of the corporation.

Shareholders can be completely anonymous.

Corporations are creatures of the state.  I can't imagine how the shareholders could ever be certain that their shareholder rights are being respected, without the implicit force of the court system should the corporate executives turn to the dark side or were frauds to start with.  Reputation is a real economic force at the personal level, but not the corporate level.  They were orginally developed to distribute risk across a working group, and also distribute liability in the same manner.

[Anonymous]

The first business that lets people buy bitcoins with simple bank transfers will be a goldmine. 

[harding]

I would buy $10,000 of bitcoins a day for 1,000 days.  This will probably cause bitcoins to increase in value relative to the US dollar, which will encourage people to own more bitcoins and fewer dollars.  The more value tied up in bitcoins, the more incentive for businesses to cater to bitcoin owners.

At the end of 1,000 days (roughly 3 years), hopefully the bitcoin economy would've grown more than $10,000,000 and I could sell 1/10% of my bitcoins a day for 1,000 days and pay my investors back a profit.

-Dave

[S3052]

This is a very valid assumption

Even if some people may not believe into it, but this is exacly what happened over the past 4 months where BTC/USD increased from 0.01 to now 0.20 (almost 2000%)

The BTC/USD ratio was even lower at the start of trading at bitcoinmarket with 0.001, meaning we now have a 20,000 % increase.

This has not really been driven by so many businesses accepting bitcoins, but mostly behind people wanting to BUY bitcoins and keep them in their wallet.