How viable is Bitcoin with Satoshi + MtGox theif holding 2 Million BTC?

[integrity42]

It seems that the Gini co-efficient would be outrageously high for Bitcoin to succeed if 10% of coins really are in the hands of two entities.

It seems like there will be opportunity for other alt-coins to market themselves as more 'fairly' distribted and take some market share from Bitcoin.

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[DeathAndTaxes]

Why would you assume the thief is still holding.  I think there are a lot of holes to MtGox's story but they claim they were losing coins for YEARS.  It wasn't like all coins accounted for, single 800,000+ BTC tx and all coins are lost.  Thief may have exchanged, or spent some or all of those coins months ago.

[Vitamin]

That Mark stole 744k BTC is not necessarily what happened, but one interpretation of the very limited facts that have been provided for us.

[whtchocla7e]

The fact that one exchange holds close to 1 million or 1/21 of all BTC is scary in itself.

But hey, don't let people tell you that Bitcoin is centralized.

[kolev]

The fact that one exchange holds close to 1 million or 1/21 of all BTC is scary in itself.

But hey, don't let people tell you that Bitcoin is centralized.

Bitcoin should stick to its promise - decentralization. P2P + Ripple for fiat onramp/offramp is the only solid solution. This will remove speculators from the picture as they won't be able to conduct High-Frequency Trading and will keep large investors off the market, too, as it won't be so easy for them to acquire large amounts of bitcoins.

[acoindr]

DeathAndTaxes is right but you do have a point that concern over unfair Bitcoin distribution is a recurring theme.

I've often promoted Litecoin as providing strength to cryptocurrency overall by offering things Bitcoin simply can't. A desirable alternative to Bitcoin is one of those things. This issue could be a second.

Litecoin was distributed in a far more balanced way. Not only was it not announced with only a handful of people that could realistically participate, but the launch date was voted for democratically. At least thousands of people heard of it and no pre-mining occurred. Even long after launch while Bitcoin was around $12, Litecoin remained $0.04 cents. Even today with Bitcoin at hundreds of dollars Litecoin is less than $14.00. Yet Litecoin is the oldest, most successful cryptocurrency that is not Bitcoin.

Markets like choices, so as I often explain, it's possible to believe in both Bitcoin and Litecoin at the same time.