Billionaire wants to buy 25% of the bitcoin supply

[exstasie]

I've always thought that the vulnerability of Bitcoin was in the accumulation of large long term holdings, rather than 51% attacks. If the bankers held massive quantities of Bitcoin, they could maintain the extreme volatility of the market, and make it unusable as a currency.

What would be the goal of that? It seems pretty obvious that volatility isn't discouraging adoption. On the contrary, I believe the speculative price cycles  are a big driver of adoption.

Though I'm not sure, do you think that there's a good chance that bankers would hugely accumulate a hugely speculative and very experimental asset, that's not even guaranteed to succeed in the long term?

Nothing is guaranteed success, and ten years in, Bitcoin may still seem experimental. But at some point, it will attain a more traditional status and banks accumulating BTC won't seem so crazy. A year or two ago, JP Morgan said Bitcoin could become a traditional gold-like asset. That's where we're heading.

[Adriano2010]

He should try and buy from more exchanges and after send all and hold to a hardware wallet. But 25% of supply is a large amount and it think he want to hold it to get more money.

[Slow death]

 there is no proof and there are no names of these billionaires just have this:

her company has been instructed, "to scour the markets and gain access to as close to 25% as possible."

why do not these billionaires buy on a daily basis until they reach their goals? and why does not their name exist? It seems like a story to gain fame.

[kryptqnick]

I would not call it bullish news, it's more of a disaster if it's possible. But fortunately, I think it's not. For one, 25% of the current supply is worth about 35 billion dollars, which is a very big sum even for billionaires. There aren't even many people on Earth who can afford it, and for any single one of them, it's a really significant part of the total amount. Secondly, and that seems more reassuring, it's very difficult to imagine no many entities giving up their money so that this mysterious person can even accumulate 25% in one place. It's especially so since when the person attempts to buy so much, it will most certainly need to be done in parts, which would be rather significant to make sure the prices jump up. And while that right person is accumulating bitcoins, I'm sure the price will become so big that even the richest person on Earth won't be able to afford 25% or anything close to that.

[Pipdips]

I would not call it bullish news, it's more of a disaster if it's possible. But fortunately, I think it's not. For one, 25% of the current supply is worth about 35 billion dollars, which is a very big sum even for billionaires.

This is just a guess but I have a feeling that acquisitions like this are just around the corner and that $35,000,000,000 is entirely possible. When will purchases like this happen? It is a matter of hours or days from now, not weeks or months.

Once somebody purchases this monstrous amount of Bitcoin, I will sell all of my Bitcoin and find something new to work on. They can have it...

[WinslowIII]

Let him try, but buying 4 million bitcoins is going to involve pushing the price into 6 figures. I bet he'd run out of money before he acquired 1 million btc, because he's only got a year till the next halving and the next bull market.
Basically, his goal is impossible because nobody has that much money to pull it off.

[Shinpako09]

I would not call it bullish news, it's more of a disaster if it's possible. But fortunately, I think it's not. For one, 25% of the current supply is worth about 35 billion dollars, which is a very big sum even for billionaires. There aren't even many people on Earth who can afford it, and for any single one of them, it's a really significant part of the total amount. Secondly, and that seems more reassuring, it's very difficult to imagine no many entities giving up their money so that this mysterious person can even accumulate 25% in one place. It's especially so since when the person attempts to buy so much, it will most certainly need to be done in parts, which would be rather significant to make sure the prices jump up. And while that right person is accumulating bitcoins, I'm sure the price will become so big that even the richest person on Earth won't be able to afford 25% or anything close to that.

That's what i'm thinking too. Price is getting pump and expensive while he is on his way in accumulating that 25%. This will sure pump the price and everyone wants a high price but I don't know i'm not happy with this kind of attempt. It smells something fishy, they can influence the price later whenever they want to and it's not a good thing for me.

[bbc.reporter]

If such billionaires are the guys from the picture, I can guess they would use bitcoin to leverage oil prices.

They might also begin using bitcoin as leverage versus other currencies and as a political tool to weaken America's control in the middle east.

[pooya87]

I've always thought that the vulnerability of Bitcoin was in the accumulation of large long term holdings, rather than 51% attacks. If the bankers held massive quantities of Bitcoin, they could maintain the extreme volatility of the market, and make it unusable as a currency.

The good news is that this could provide a way for sensible traders to maintain an income from their speculation.

but that would cost a ton of money and can not be sustained over the long term since the market is also growing constantly and as a result it is becoming harder and harder to manipulate the price. for example it takes a lot more money today to manipulate it compared to the money it took back in 2011 and it will continue to grow.
basically i think the cost does not justify the result they could get out of it.

[Indrawan77]

Its good to see the enthusiasm of the investors, but I don't like btc being controlled by a bunch of group, it will decrease the transaction volume, bitcoin is better to be used rather than to be hold, and this could lead to the price manipulation, holding too big portion of bitcoin could disrupt the market

[onrise]

Its good to see the enthusiasm of the investors, but I don't like btc being controlled by a bunch of group, it will decrease the transaction volume, bitcoin is better to be used rather than to be hold, and this could lead to the price manipulation, holding too big portion of bitcoin could disrupt the market

This could be one of the very valid point that if majority or a huge portion is hold by few people then they could easily play with it and market may rise or fall as per their decisions. But this is how generally it works in any of the markets where big players enter the market they form a cartel and things might work that way.

[emmybd]

These days, bitcoin is the best investment out there, billionaires know that bitcoin would be worth much in a few years time, so they don't want to miss this opportunity. I believe they have been investing heavily in it.

[Reid]

25 percent is a lot of bitcoin and I dont think they will be risking that much.
They became billionaire with their businesses and they know how should it work.

I dont think they will just burn all that money for something which is not that much reputable to the market.
This might be some kind of news just to continue the hype that is happening in the bitcoin market.
Or, if this could be true then something evil might be behind it.

[Pipdips]

If I was an Arab oil family billionaire I would want to transfer money out of the oil industry too. You really cannot get more asset-light than Bitcoin. The only thing a Bitcoin investor requires for operating business is an iPhone.

[gentlemand]

I've always thought that the vulnerability of Bitcoin was in the accumulation of large long term holdings, rather than 51% attacks. If the bankers held massive quantities of Bitcoin, they could maintain the extreme volatility of the market, and make it unusable as a currency.

Good point. Though I'm not sure, do you think that there's a good chance that bankers would hugely accumulate a hugely speculative and very experimental asset, that's not even guaranteed to succeed in the long term? Personally, I don't think so, but there sure is a small chance; especially now that bitcoin is continuing to gain reputation.

To induce volatility they have to buy and sell it. At the same time millions of other people will be looking to buy and sell it. They can't maintain a stranglehold if it's constantly flying out of their hands. If real demand is ever to arrive then even the biggest whale will get slowly nipped to death by a million buys.

As for the story itself, nope.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Color me skeptical!

Yeah, I'm a step beyond skeptical with this one.  I'm not sure how anyone would go about getting their hands on 25% of the circulating bitcoin supply these days, even if they had the money to do it.  I don't doubt these dudes have the dough, but I highly doubt this story is true. 

The big thing with bitcoin is its decentralization, right?  That's the mantra I keep hearing everywhere, even about things where decentralization makes no sense.  I don't think we want any one person or group of people holding a quarter of all the bitcoin in existence.  Didn't Mt. Gox have close to that amount at one point?  Didn't Trendon Shavers have at least that amount?  Look at the disasters that happened in those cases.  Bitcoin ownership should be spread around as far and wide as it possibly can.

[davis196]

If you really want to buy such a large amount,you just don't BRAG about it on the mainstream media.
Why?Because the price will skyrocket pretty fast and you may end up buying an overvalued asset.
Those Dadiani guys must be:
1.Pretty stupid.
2.Joking...

[thecodebear]

I was unclear if they meant they wanted 25% of circulating supply (maybe 1 or 2 million bitcoin?) or 25% of the entire 17+ million supply.

But the company also said that getting 25% was impossible, so they were just gonna try to get as much as they can for the interested party.


And yeah I agree with the poster who said it seems like someone bought some advertisement with this article. The company has only done 4 trades, yet the article claims its like the hottest spot for huge buyers of bitcoin. Basically its just a company that facilitates a very small number of very high volume trades for billionaires looking to buy a significant amount OTC.

[thecodebear]

Color me skeptical!

Yeah, I'm a step beyond skeptical with this one.  I'm not sure how anyone would go about getting their hands on 25% of the circulating bitcoin supply these days, even if they had the money to do it.  I don't doubt these dudes have the dough, but I highly doubt this story is true. 

The big thing with bitcoin is its decentralization, right?  That's the mantra I keep hearing everywhere, even about things where decentralization makes no sense.  I don't think we want any one person or group of people holding a quarter of all the bitcoin in existence.  Didn't Mt. Gox have close to that amount at one point?  Didn't Trendon Shavers have at least that amount?  Look at the disasters that happened in those cases.  Bitcoin ownership should be spread around as far and wide as it possibly can.

Which is why it is important for us everyday people to accumulate! The billionaires and the trillion dollar asset management companies are starting to dip their toes in and accumulate. It is a better market if we the general population eats up the supply before they can get their hands on it. Anyway, any one can buy as much or little as they want. it's looking like big institutional and billionaire money will get their hands on a lot of it in the end (and drive the price way up as they do it).

[figmentofmyass]

but that would cost a ton of money and can not be sustained over the long term since the market is also growing constantly and as a result it is becoming harder and harder to manipulate the price.

what's your opinion about the gold market? prices are dictated by the london bullion market and comex futures market. both of these markets trade volumes that are completely disconnected to the real physical underlying holdings (essentially fractional reserve), yet they dictate spot prices:

Recent empirical research has determined that gold price discovery is jointly driven by London Over-the-Counter (OTC) spot gold market trading and COMEX gold futures trading, and that the “international gold price” is derived from a combination of London OTC gold prices and COMEX gold futures prices. See “Who Sets the Price of Gold? London or New York (2015)” by Hauptfleisch, Putniņš, and Lucey.

by using leverage, rehypothecation/commingling, securitization etc and access to cheap credit, it doesn't seem totally inconceivable that even a market of gold's size could be manipulated, since spot prices are enslaved to fractional reserve markets. and bitcoin will be much smaller than gold for quite a while yet.

/tinfoil hat