Can Bitcoin support a country?

[faizaa123]

I see it's worth 13,000,000,000 USD.

that would probably buy a small island off edinburgh, but not much more. 

[EvilPanda]

buying up a private island is cheap.

constructing buildings, residences, utilities, power generation.. that is the lengthy and costly part

you can buy islands that come with residences as well.

but if you want an island that can function as an actual nation, rather than a holiday resort, it may get pretty expensive.

A resort would be enough, I guess. At least to begin with. It would show the world how popular the whole BTC idea is and that we can function without the traditional banking system.

[Siegfried]

If Bitcoin was adopted by a country as an official currency, could the Bitcoin network handle it?

Sure, quite easily.

The main gov website would probably do most transactions tho, and the block chain would be used sparingly.

Or the government could issue an official alt coin for use in the country.

[nate008]

If Bitcoin was adopted by a country as an official currency, could the Bitcoin network handle it?

Sure, quite easily.

The main gov website would probably do most transactions tho, and the block chain would be used sparingly.

Or the government could issue an official alt coin for use in the country.

Lol, the question wasn't about solutions , the question was if the actual BITCOIN network can deal with it.
It we talk about solutions , then we can release the limit on the block size , prune the blockchain and here we go.

[bryant.coleman]

An artificial island nation would be the go - some BTC billionaires could seriously afford this now.

This has been dealt with many times now. It is not possible to build an artificial island in the neutral parts of the ocean, according to the international laws. And if you build one inside some nation's EEZ, then it'll be under the jurisdiction of that country.

[fluidjax]

As a president of a country would you take a country 'all in' on Bitcoin?
It would be a pretty risky gamble... think of the children.
But a new country 'Bitcoin Island' would be cool..

[psybits]

An artificial island nation would be the go - some BTC billionaires could seriously afford this now.

This has been dealt with many times now. It is not possible to build an artificial island in the neutral parts of the ocean, according to the international laws. And if you build one inside some nation's EEZ, then it'll be under the jurisdiction of that country.

Yes it has been dealt with many times, here and elsewhere - but it is actually entirely possible.

What is stopping someone building it in sovereign ocean, and then setting off to neutral ocean when ready?

It won't be under that nation's EEZ once you leave and then apply to become your own nation.

[nate008]

An artificial island nation would be the go - some BTC billionaires could seriously afford this now.

This has been dealt with many times now. It is not possible to build an artificial island in the neutral parts of the ocean, according to the international laws. And if you build one inside some nation's EEZ, then it'll be under the jurisdiction of that country.

Yes it has been dealt with many times, here and elsewhere - but it is actually entirely possible.

What is stopping someone building it in sovereign ocean, and then setting off to neutral ocean when ready?

It won't be under that nation's EEZ once you leave and then apply to become your own nation.

It's the same thing. You can even built it on a mountain and then make it float in international waters.
There are pacts between countries to deal with such thing, no one will recognize it , and also , you're risking somebody to take over it in order to "govern it for the good of the people" and to ensure democracy.
Most likely under an UN mission.

[Gabi]

You can make a sovereign nation if you have enuff military/economic power, that's all.

[EvilPanda]

An artificial island nation would be the go - some BTC billionaires could seriously afford this now.

This has been dealt with many times now. It is not possible to build an artificial island in the neutral parts of the ocean, according to the international laws. And if you build one inside some nation's EEZ, then it'll be under the jurisdiction of that country.

Yes it has been dealt with many times, here and elsewhere - but it is actually entirely possible.

What is stopping someone building it in sovereign ocean, and then setting off to neutral ocean when ready?

It won't be under that nation's EEZ once you leave and then apply to become your own nation.

It's the same thing. You can even built it on a mountain and then make it float in international waters.
There are pacts between countries to deal with such thing, no one will recognize it , and also , you're risking somebody to take over it in order to "govern it for the good of the people" and to ensure democracy.
Most likely under an UN mission.

This reminds me how american soldiers were spreading democracy in Vietnam and Iraq.

[driver]

yeah right . bitcoins could not support a small neighborhood let alone a country . Very few people in general have the patience to even try and buy one  . No one . It is a novelty and serious shopping will never be made with it . It is the hardest most time consuming bunch of BS I ever encountered just trying to obtain a legal product . Opening many accounts and giving information to them that most of the people would never do and waiting days or more to get verified and waiting who knows how long after that before you can even buy any coins and all the other irritating crap .
the average person is going to use their credit card or cash both readily available in seconds not a month .

 Besides . Just wait . the good old USA is going to find a way to stomp all over this stuff soon . If they can not get their grubby hands on 40 or 50% of your bitcoins by taxing you they will shut this down somehow or at least put in so many regulations that you will not be able to do anything without a team of lawyers .

[bitcoinpsftp]

I Can't quite find the source right now (a bit lazy), but there's an entire town in Chile that will only be workign with bitcoins as their currency.  Lots of rich people bought a gigantic area and will work mainly with BTC as a form of payment.  Read this on the news I believe a few weeks ago.

[driver]

I Can't quite find the source right now (a bit lazy), but there's an entire town in Chile that will only be working with bitcoins as their currency.  Lots of rich people bought a gigantic area and will work mainly with BTC as a form of payment.  Read this on the news I believe a few weeks ago.

that is a town that will last about a minute . the price of coins could drop to 100 or less in an instant and the great depression will ruin them . Anyone holding their savings in bitcoin would be on the welfare line .
 the USA gov is going to find a way to put a stick in the spokes of this bike and flip it . they will keep illegally going after domain names and busting sites like silk road by way of busting their employees that will snitch and other tactics and all that cracks the confidence of bitcoin holders .
 bitcoin is for playing with to make some quick cash or just have a good time and for buying illegal products on Tor end of story

[bitcoinpsftp]

I Can't quite find the source right now (a bit lazy), but there's an entire town in Chile that will only be working with bitcoins as their currency.  Lots of rich people bought a gigantic area and will work mainly with BTC as a form of payment.  Read this on the news I believe a few weeks ago.

that is a town that will last about a minute . the price of coins could drop to 100 or less in an instant and the great depression will ruin them . Anyone holding their savings in bitcoin would be on the welfare line .
 the USA gov is going to find a way to put a stick in the spokes of this bike and flip it . they will keep illegally going after domain names and busting sites like silk road by way of busting their employees that will snitch and other tactics and all that cracks the confidence of bitcoin holders .
 bitcoin is for playing with to make some quick cash or just have a good time and for buying illegal products on Tor end of story

This makes no sense.  First of all, it's in Chile, so US governemnt doesn't have much say about what they can, and can not do...  Second of all, why would the price drop to 100?

[EvilPanda]

I Can't quite find the source right now (a bit lazy), but there's an entire town in Chile that will only be working with bitcoins as their currency.  Lots of rich people bought a gigantic area and will work mainly with BTC as a form of payment.  Read this on the news I believe a few weeks ago.

that is a town that will last about a minute . the price of coins could drop to 100 or less in an instant and the great depression will ruin them . Anyone holding their savings in bitcoin would be on the welfare line .
 the USA gov is going to find a way to put a stick in the spokes of this bike and flip it . they will keep illegally going after domain names and busting sites like silk road by way of busting their employees that will snitch and other tactics and all that cracks the confidence of bitcoin holders .
 bitcoin is for playing with to make some quick cash or just have a good time and for buying illegal products on Tor end of story

You got all of this figured out. US government will hunt down BTC users around the world or hire hackers to take down their websites. Weren't they supposed to do that with Wikileaks or Piratebay years ago?

[hilariousandco]

yeah right . bitcoins could not support a small neighborhood let alone a country . Very few people in general have the patience to even try and buy one  . No one . It is a novelty and serious shopping will never be made with it . It is the hardest most time consuming bunch of BS I ever encountered just trying to obtain a legal product . Opening many accounts and giving information to them that most of the people would never do and waiting days or more to get verified and waiting who knows how long after that before you can even buy any coins and all the other irritating crap .
the average person is going to use their credit card or cash both readily available in seconds not a month .

How long does it take to get verified for a credit card? It takes just as long to sign up for one of them, if not longer. Don't use crappy exchanges if you don't like all the faff. You can buy coins from these forum easily and without any ID. And just because you can't seem to get a hold of coins easily doesn’t mean the rest of us can't. I got my first coins pretty easily off ebay. Paid for them with Paypal and had them within 10-30 minutes. Bitcoin isn't a novelty, and serious shopping can already be done with it, and this will likely grow steadily during 2014.

[nate008]

I Can't quite find the source right now (a bit lazy), but there's an entire town in Chile that will only be workign with bitcoins as their currency.  Lots of rich people bought a gigantic area and will work mainly with BTC as a form of payment.  Read this on the news I believe a few weeks ago.

How about you try to remember cause I read the news daily and haven't heard of anything like that lately.
And this would be some really big news!

[hilariousandco]

I Can't quite find the source right now (a bit lazy), but there's an entire town in Chile that will only be workign with bitcoins as their currency.  Lots of rich people bought a gigantic area and will work mainly with BTC as a form of payment.  Read this on the news I believe a few weeks ago.

How about you try to remember cause I read the news daily and haven't heard of anything like that lately.
And this would be some really big news!

http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-chilean-libertarian-paradise/

"A libertarian-fashioned community in Chile is now accepting bitcoins in exchange for plots of land within its boundaries."

[nate008]

I Can't quite find the source right now (a bit lazy), but there's an entire town in Chile that will only be workign with bitcoins as their currency.  Lots of rich people bought a gigantic area and will work mainly with BTC as a form of payment.  Read this on the news I believe a few weeks ago.

How about you try to remember cause I read the news daily and haven't heard of anything like that lately.
And this would be some really big news!

http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-chilean-libertarian-paradise/

"A libertarian-fashioned community in Chile is now accepting bitcoins in exchange for plots of land within its boundaries."

And the difference between working for bitcoins only , paying with bitcoins , living on bitcoins , an entire town doing this , the gigantic area which he was talking about and the 250 acres that are being sold mainly for $ , is making me believe bitcoinpsftp was talking about something totally different.
Or he was half asleep when he read those news.

[hilariousandco]

I Can't quite find the source right now (a bit lazy), but there's an entire town in Chile that will only be workign with bitcoins as their currency.  Lots of rich people bought a gigantic area and will work mainly with BTC as a form of payment.  Read this on the news I believe a few weeks ago.

How about you try to remember cause I read the news daily and haven't heard of anything like that lately.
And this would be some really big news!

http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-chilean-libertarian-paradise/

"A libertarian-fashioned community in Chile is now accepting bitcoins in exchange for plots of land within its boundaries."

And the difference between working for bitcoins only , paying with bitcoins , living on bitcoins , an entire town doing this , the gigantic area which he was talking about and the 250 acres that are being sold mainly for $ , is making me believe bitcoinpsftp was talking about something totally different.
Or he was half asleep when he read those news.

It was probably exaggerated by the media, or he was half-asleep  .

It would be pretty cool to buy some land and make a community with like-minded libertarians for Bitcoin though.