Ruh Roh, bitcoin on the radar of the IMF?

[BurtW]

Not if they mine the remainder of ALL bitcoins... Within seconds short time they can mine all of it using the above hashrate (Centillion Hash/s)  Than they can sell those about 11M coins at once into the market so its value would drop to zero

There is no way they can bring more computational power to the network than we already have within a short time.  They will not "mine all the rest" of the coins.  That cannot and will not happen.

If the forces that want to control/stop it actually try it contributes to speeding Bitcoin's wide scale adoption and success as they legitimize it.

This.  By design as they attempt to stop it they help it (publicity or mining).

They can buy mining hardware  equipment for unlimited amount of funds and mine the rest of the coins to corner / control the market

That's like trying to corner the market on winning the lottery.

Also, I don't know why we're seeing so many people talk about "mining all the bitcoins" like anyone could actually do it. It doesn't matter how much computing power you put toward mining. Coins will only come into existence at a limited rate until around 2030.

True.  Except where do all these dates come from.  Everyone just pulls them out of their ass I guess.  The date is 2140 as shown in your referenced article!.

Also note that this whole topic has already been discussed here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=224704.0

[Este Nuno]

Not if they mine the remainder of ALL bitcoins... Within seconds short time they can mine all of it using the above hashrate (Centillion Hash/s)  Than they can sell those about 11M coins at once into the market so its value would drop to zero

There is no way they can bring more computational power to the network than we already have within a short time.  They will not "mine all the rest" of the coins.  That cannot and will not happen.

If the forces that want to control/stop it actually try it contributes to speeding Bitcoin's wide scale adoption and success as they legitimize it.

This.  By design as they attempt to stop it they help it (publicity or mining).

They can buy mining hardware  equipment for unlimited amount of funds and mine the rest of the coins to corner / control the market

That's like trying to corner the market on winning the lottery.

Also, I don't know why we're seeing so many people talk about "mining all the bitcoins" like anyone could actually do it. It doesn't matter how much computing power you put toward mining. Coins will only come into existence at a limited rate until around 2030.

True.  Except where do all these dates come from.  Everyone just pulls them out of their ass I guess.  The date is 2140 as shown in your referenced article!.

Also note that this whole topic has already been discussed here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=224704.0

2 week lag on difficulty adjustment does come in to play though. So it's a bit more complicated.

[acoindr]

Not if they mine the remainder of ALL bitcoins... Within seconds short time they can mine all of it using the above hashrate (Centillion Hash/s)  Than they can sell those about 11M coins at once into the market so its value would drop to zero

What part of fixed inflation rate don't you understand?

I give up. You tell me.

The system is set up to only allow a certain number of coins to come into existence over time. There is a difficulty target which recalculates about every two weeks to see whether the difficulty should rise or be lowered. A single retarget never changes by more than a factor of 4 to prevent large changes in difficulty.

If some entity with unlimited resources tried to "mine all the bitcoins" they would first go up against the existing network, which is already record breaking in terms of collective computing power. Even if they met or exceeded that hash power that wouldn't guarantee they won all blocks/coins because that happens like a lottery. Just because you have 10 lottery tickets to my 5 doesn't mean you're guaranteed I won't win and you will.

In the meantime word would get out about the massive effort to bring down Bitcoin which of course strengthens Bitcoin. In a race to harness the most computing power it would be essentially those who control the world versus those who actually make up the world. Which side do you think wins?

[MykelSilver]

got it! Thx

[cypherdoc]

In a race to harness the most computing power it would be essentially those who control the world versus those who actually make up the world. Which side do you think wins?

i like the way you put that.

[wachtwoord]

Thoughts?

This gives me warm fuzzies; a University of Chicago professor speculating about how a wildly successful Bitcoin might affect the International Monetary Fund!

I don't really care what is said, just the fact that Bitcoin is being talked about in the elite Ivory Towers is a very good thing.

In the end, I don't care either because if Bitcoin is successful, the economic forces involved would make IMF obsolete (unable to function for lack of funds). However, nothing the IMF does or says can ever give me fuzzy feelings because I'm morally opposed to what they are and what they try to pursue. Also here (note, I didn't read the paper but am going by OPs quotes) the author is extremely condescending. Take authority over Bitcoin? On what grounds? To me, to even utter those words means being completely disconnected from reality, honesty and fairness.

[Trongersoll]

Why does the Impossible Mission Force care about Bitcoin?    

Agreed, that any news is good news.

My thought exactly. There is an easy way for them to deal with bitcoin, all they have to do is buy them all and erase the wallets.

But alt currencies are like potato chips, we'll make more.

[MykelSilver]

My thought exactly. There is an easy way for them to deal with bitcoin, all they have to do is buy them all and erase the wallets.

If they do that it would be good thing for bitcoin. Lost wallets can never be sold on the market for fiat again.

[harposox]

Ah, the chicago school of economics...  Fascist scumbags, brainwashed idiots, and psychopathic criminals.

Yes, yes and yes! We're on the same wavelength here.

However to be fair, after doing a bit of research on the author, he's but a pup—a former frat boy still chasing his UC law degree, participating in every godforsaken lawyer "society" group that'll have him... let's call him a "fascist-scumbag-in-training," at least until his balls drop.

[donut]

To clarify: difficulty adjusts every 2016 blocks. There is no time limit on this. If 2016 blocks were mined in one minute - the difficulty will adjust such that the next 2016 will be mined roughly 10 minutes apart from each other.

Therefore, it is impossible to "mine all remaining coins". It just won't happen.

[donut]

Why does the Impossible Mission Force care about Bitcoin?    

Agreed, that any news is good news.

My thought exactly. There is an easy way for them to deal with bitcoin, all they have to do is buy them all and erase the wallets.

But alt currencies are like potato chips, we'll make more.

That would achieve nothing at all. I am not going to sell all of my coins, and even 1 satoshi left accessible in the whole universe is enough to sustain any possible economy - will require just one hard fork to allow for more divisibility.

[acoindr]

True.  Except where do all these dates come from.  Everyone just pulls them out of their ass I guess.  The date is 2140 as shown in your referenced article!.

The Year is a projection. Bitcoin doesn't operate based on strict dates. Time between blocks is supposed to be every 10 minutes, but has been as low as 2 minutes and as long as 2 hours if I remember correctly.

[Trongersoll]

Why does the Impossible Mission Force care about Bitcoin?    

Agreed, that any news is good news.

My thought exactly. There is an easy way for them to deal with bitcoin, all they have to do is buy them all and erase the wallets.

But alt currencies are like potato chips, we'll make more.

That would achieve nothing at all. I am not going to sell all of my coins, and even 1 satoshi left accessible in the whole universe is enough to sustain any possible economy - will require just one hard fork to allow for more divisibility.

Actually it would, but it would take time. If they bought every coin inexistance, or close to it and insured that they would never be circulated again. Once all the coins are mined, there could be so few transactions that nobody would bother mining for just transaction fees.

[harposox]

In the end, I don't care either because if Bitcoin is successful, the economic forces involved would make IMF obsolete (unable to function for lack of funds). However, nothing the IMF does or says can ever give me fuzzy feelings because I'm morally opposed to what they are and what they try to pursue. Also here (note, I didn't read the paper but am going by OPs quotes) the author is extremely condescending. Take authority over Bitcoin? On what grounds? To me, to even utter those words means being completely disconnected from reality, honesty and fairness.

Your read is accurate—the author was not only condescending, but assumed somehow that the IMF had the right (without suggesting any legal justification) to integrate/regulate/control bitcoin. I assumed the guy was a figurehead within their econ department, given the presumptive authority with which he presented his "argument"—turns out he's just an adorable overachieving UC law student with an innate deference for the authority of global financial institutions (redundant, I know).

The subject of my OP appears to be a bit hyperbolic. My apologies, folks.

[KeyserSoze]

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2013/06/05/imf-to-admit-big-fat-greek-bailout-blunders-wsj/

[RodeoX]

Ah, the chicago school of economics...  Fascist scumbags, brainwashed idiots, and psychopathic criminals.

I will contact them again. I spoke to them in 2011 and was invited to come back. Let's charm them, not hate on them. If they can be brainwashed once, then I can do it to them also.  

http://www.chicagobooth.edu/alumni/events/showEvent?eventId=2868
Look at this.

[crumbcake]

What is everyone talking about?  This is a nothing paper, written by a non-entity Prof jr., who isn't associated in any way with IMF.  Bitcoin's not on IMF radar -- it appears in a paper to be published in "Chicago Journal of International Law ("CJIL") is a semiannual, student-edited law review published by the University of Chicago Law School since spring 2000."  In other words, Bitcoin makes it into a school rag.
Everyone:  you still got time to ebay your gamer boxen before jackbooted law students kick down your door.
 

[cypherdoc]

Ah, the chicago school of economics...  Fascist scumbags, brainwashed idiots, and psychopathic criminals.

I will contact them again. I spoke to them in 2011 and was invited to come back. Let's charm them, not hate on them. If they can be brainwashed once, then I can do it to them also.  

http://www.chicagobooth.edu/alumni/events/showEvent?eventId=2868
Look at this.

which one is you?

[TheGovernedSelf]

They can buy mining hardware  equipment for unlimited amount of funds and mine the rest of the coins to corner / control the market

They would need clearance and no committee would agree to wasting that much money.

The US can print as much as it wants so "wasting" is impossible.
I suppose the IMF could benefit from US money printing
The FED is currently printing 85 billion a month (quantitative easing)

Well,
If this is true

From the mouth of (at the time) FED chairman Alan Greenspan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6vi528gseA

You can't argue with his logic. 

[JackH]

If Bitcoin walks this fine line the next years time, I think that Bitcoin will never be shut down. Right now we are in transition periods, with our network speed still going up. Once it hits a high peak it will show how strong Bitcoin really is. One year guys, just one more year and we are immortal!