$10 million toward making Bitcoin successful

[Elwar]

Let us say that you won the lottery and you want Bitcoin to succeed in the long term. You want to take some of your earnings, $10 million, and use it toward making Bitcoin a fairly popular and useful currency of choice.

What would you do?

[evoorhees]

Prepare a brilliant legal team and start actively engaging in cases to set precedent.

[cablepair]

Let us say that you won the lottery and you want Bitcoin to succeed in the long term. You want to take some of your earnings, $10 million, and use it toward making Bitcoin a fairly popular and useful currency of choice.

What would you do?

I would spend the money convincing walmart to accept Bitcoins in all of their stores world wide.

[Yankee (BitInstant)]

Would pay for every exchange to become 100% legal, MSB's and what not.

I'd also commission Casascius to make a few million 1 Bitcoin coins and give them out for free at the OWS protests.

Thats what I could think of the top of my head

[Steve]

Prepare a brilliant legal team and start actively engaging in cases to set precedent.

I like this answer.  I would also put some into shoring up some of the weak points of the system.  Such as ensuring we have a fully p2p exchange system.  A few developers working on it full time should be able to solve that in a few months I imagine.

[BitPay Business Solutions]

Let us say that you won the lottery and you want Bitcoin to succeed in the long term. You want to take some of your earnings, $10 million, and use it toward making Bitcoin a fairly popular and useful currency of choice.

What would you do?

Buy a Bank.  A real functioning commercial bank with all of the licenses in good standing.

[Yankee (BitInstant)]

Let us say that you won the lottery and you want Bitcoin to succeed in the long term. You want to take some of your earnings, $10 million, and use it toward making Bitcoin a fairly popular and useful currency of choice.

What would you do?

Buy a Bank.  A real functioning commercial bank with all of the licenses in good standing.

I'd go with a Credit Union, much easier to maintain. Has its advantages and disadvantages over a Bank, but I think its a wiser choice.

[BitPay Business Solutions]

Let us say that you won the lottery and you want Bitcoin to succeed in the long term. You want to take some of your earnings, $10 million, and use it toward making Bitcoin a fairly popular and useful currency of choice.

What would you do?

Buy a Bank.  A real functioning commercial bank with all of the licenses in good standing.

I'd go with a Credit Union, much easier to maintain. Has its advantages and disadvantages over a Bank, but I think its a wiser choice.

Agree 100%.  Buy a Credit Union. 

[evoorhees]

Agree 100%.  Buy a Credit Union. 

I wonder if, at some stage in the bitcoin world, it would make sense for some of the top companies to form a JV and create/buy a credit union/bank in some free banking area, like Panama?  Some grounded, brick and mortar, physical bank that would add one more strong link between Bitcoin and normal financial markets.

Is there value in something like that?

[Yankee (BitInstant)]

Agree 100%.  Buy a Credit Union.  

I wonder if, at some stage in the bitcoin world, it would make sense for some of the top companies to form a JV and create/buy a credit union/bank in some free banking area, like Panama?  Some grounded, brick and mortar, physical bank that would add one more strong link between Bitcoin and normal financial markets.

Is there value in something like that?

Actually, its in the works! Although not in the immediate future, I'd say definitely within a few years.

I've been flying around the US meeting investors and individuals high in the finance world.
One of my vc's had equity in BankServ, he was responsible for selling the company for $300 Million.
When I met with him last week, he said things would be so much easier for BitInstant and our goals if we buy or start a small Credit Union, and he wants to help us get there

I know the executives of a few exchanges are in talks about it as well.

[BitPay Business Solutions]

Agree 100%.  Buy a Credit Union. 

I wonder if, at some stage in the bitcoin world, it would make sense for some of the top companies to form a JV and create/buy a credit union/bank in some free banking area, like Panama?  Some grounded, brick and mortar, physical bank that would add one more strong link between Bitcoin and normal financial markets.

Is there value in something like that?

Absolutely.  it's the link to the fiat / Federal Reserve world that is the regulatory nightmare for bitcoin right now.  The bitcoin economy can work just fine on its own.  It's where it interacts with the fiat system that all hell brakes loose.

International Casinos can also play a role.  In most casinos now, you can deposit Euros, Yen, etc.  Sometimes it needs to be wired in, but you can also do it in person.  You then play with your chips.  You can cash out however you wish.  If a casino allows deposits in bitcoins just like any other currency, they give you chips and away you go.

[rainingbitcoins]

Let us say that you won the lottery and you want Bitcoin to succeed in the long term. You want to take some of your earnings, $10 million, and use it toward making Bitcoin a fairly popular and useful currency of choice.

What would you do?

Commit myself.

[Elwar]

I would probably put a huge bid wall up at $5/BTC and as people buy, sell at $5.50 for at least a year to give some price stability in the early stage.

[DeathAndTaxes]

I would probably put a huge bid wall up at $5/BTC and as people buy, sell at $5.50 for at least a year to give some price stability in the early stage.

+1 to this.  Bitcoin could use some significant price stability and that will require some significant funding.

[jamesg]

$2m - gorilla marketing campaign to promote bitcoin globally
$2m - seed fund for startups / businesses looking to create valuable services around bitcoin
$2m - buy up bitcoins for their eventual global dominance as a true world wide store of value (does that sound too optimistic) 
$4m - fund to lobby / incentivize the top 500 global internet commerce sites to employ bitcoin payment solutions

[RandyFolds]

Buy a hooker, an eightball of coke and a bottle of whiskey for every one on these forums. Some real-world views from bitcoin's base supporters would help real-world acceptance immensely.

[ElectricMucus]

I'd invest 25 % in a FUD campaign, buy BTC with 60% and 15% in a viral marketing campaign.  


Srsly more USD to "support it" is the last thing Bitcoin needs right now.  

[klaus]

I would probably put a huge bid wall up at $5/BTC and as people buy, sell at $5.50 for at least a year to give some price stability in the early stage.

perfect !!!

[rplg]

I know, I would pay the worlds best programmer to make a decentralized curren.... dangit, fell for another cyclical thought pattern. hey guys I thought we already reached over 150k blocks? is that not enough proof?

that aside, perhaps it would be well spent on something like open transactions, and then buying some physical precious metals and becoming the first issuer of OT precious metals - being available in some physical location so that people can cash out/cash in. just make sure the issuer understands that it is more profitable to not rip people off in the long run.

[genjix]

Services to actually make bitcoin useful beyond speculation. Developers to battle harden and secure the software underlying the network.

Everything else is secondary. With services that people want, fully licensed large scale exchanges would move into bitcoin. The legal precedent thing is a good idea though.