What if Bill Gates buys all the Bitcoin?

[serenitys]

Overlooking the finer point that if any entity or government *could* theoretically buy all existing bitcoin with the goal of making it worthless and irrelevant, and were they to theoretically succeed, then at the end of the day, they would've just wasted huge sums of money in the process...their fiat is gone in exchange for btc which is also no longer worth anything. Lose/lose/

Only a dumbass would do that.


So, I figure the US government will be making plans any day now to do just exactly that  

[forboon]

Overlooking the finer point that if any entity or government *could* theoretically buy all existing bitcoin with the goal of making it worthless and irrelevant, and were they to theoretically succeed, then at the end of the day, they would've just wasted huge sums of money in the process...their fiat is gone in exchange for btc which is also no longer worth anything. Lose/lose/

Only a dumbass would do that.


So, I figure the US government will be making plans any day now to do just exactly that  

What you describe of cat and mouse is a game.  How can anyone beat the godfather of the solutions to cooperative and non cooperative games, satoshi, john nash http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nash_equilibrium 

THE UNEXPLOITABLE MAN.

[Bit_Happy]

yep and in less then 2 weeks other people will buy more miners, meaning he will need to buy more miners to catch up again. and thus you now see the cat and mouse game of mining.

So even theoretically, it is impossible to own all the Bitcoins. Practically, it is impossible even to collect 50% of the currently circulating coins. Even a 10% hoarding will result in prices upward $5K.

Few people with that much money are going to just throw it away.
Obviously, slowly collecting more BTC when the market falls is much more effective.

Yes, but who is spending so much when an investment continuously crashing?

The people who win long term; They buy low and sell high. 

[Waramp22]

No one can buy all the bitcoin in the world. Much like no one can buy all the gold or silver in the world.

[Bitcoin Magazine]

Then the coin name will be changed from Bitcoin to Billcoin.

why not call it 666 coin

[sosulon]

Why buy when he can create his own coin ?   

[bryant.coleman]

Why buy when he can create his own coin ?   

Yes. Nice point. Or he can launch one in collaboration with the bankers and WU / Ebay / Paypal. Looking at his past and the amount of praise he showers for the bankers, I assume that option is much more viable.

[LostDutchman]

Lets say a billionaire decides to buy all the Bitcoin,
or the US government in their attempt to make Bitcoin less relevant decides to buy everything available for sale.

All they need to do is buy a few millions which will be a big percentage of the total bitoin,
and with astronomical price most would have been sold and less community...

could that be the end of Bitcoin?

Bitcoin would change.

Bitcoin = Gatescoin.

And would then be worthless.

My $.02.