Aren't Satoshi's coins a liability?

[hydroxide]

How can Bitcoin ever become a successful global currency when a single entity is in possession of 5-10% of what will ever be in circulation?! If he decides to sell at any point, huge inflation is guaranteed.
I know it's likely that he'll never sell the coins for the sake of anonymity and personal safety, or for the sake of the system. Possible he has even destroyed the private keys. But it doesn't seem certain enough that we can make that assumption.

I'm a little surprised that this hasn't been more widely discussed - so am I missing something?

[jl2012]

How can Bitcoin ever become a successful global currency when a single entity is in possession of 5-10% of what will ever be in circulation?! If he decides to sell at any point, huge inflation is guaranteed.
I know it's likely that he'll never sell the coins for the sake of anonymity and personal safety, or for the sake of the system. Possible he has even destroyed the private keys. But it doesn't seem certain enough that we can make that assumption.

I'm a little surprised that this hasn't been more widely discussed - so am I missing something?

Let's assume he has 5% and sells over a span of one year. One-off 5% annual inflation is huge, are you sure??

[Waramp22]

How can Bitcoin ever become a successful global currency when a single entity is in possession of 5-10% of what will ever be in circulation?! If he decides to sell at any point, huge inflation is guaranteed.
I know it's likely that he'll never sell the coins for the sake of anonymity and personal safety, or for the sake of the system. Possible he has even destroyed the private keys. But it doesn't seem certain enough that we can make that assumption.

I'm a little surprised that this hasn't been more widely discussed - so am I missing something?

The way bitcoin is designed, we can see where his coins came from. If/when he spends them, we can see the amount he spent and the amount he has left.

On the other hand...

With the government, we cannot see how many coins they have or where they came from, but they sure keep on spending!

Which would you trust?

[Eastwind]

When BTC implement anonymity function, he can spend it.

[chennan]

I don't think it will happen. The holder dumps large number of bitcoin, which will cause the price fall dramatically and won't get benefit at all. There are one type of trading called over the counter through which the holder can dump large number of bitcoin without causing any trouble.

[Waramp22]

When BTC implement anonymity function, he can spend it.

I don't think bitcoin should ever implement anonymity if it has plans of going mainstream.

[frankenmint]

When BTC implement anonymity function, he can spend it.

I don't think bitcoin should ever implement anonymity if it has plans of going mainstream.

This.  If you want to hide from the public then use an alt-coin that allows you to, don't try to 'fix' Bitcoin if it's not broken.

[redsn0w]

When BTC implement anonymity function, he can spend it.

I don't think bitcoin should ever implement anonymity if it has plans of going mainstream.

This.  If you want to hide from the public then use an alt-coin that allows you to, don't try to 'fix' Bitcoin if it's not broken.

Yes , your thinking is right  . Bitcoin is anonymous if you keep it anonymous , but if you post your address all the users know that address is your address so you will "lose" your anonimity .

[cbeast]

Satoshi's coins have been discussed ad nauseum. So has anonymity. My take is that Satoshi deserves to be a bazillionaire as much as anyone when you consider the drug lords, arms dealers, and Apple executives.

[frankenmint]

Satoshi's coins have been discussed ad nauseum. So has anonymity. My take is that Satoshi deserves to be a bazillionaire as much as anyone when you consider the drug lords, arms dealers, and Apple executives.

And the kylie jenners of the world.

[xDan]

Satoshi's coins have been discussed ad nauseum. So has anonymity. My take is that Satoshi deserves to be a bazillionaire as much as anyone when you consider the drug lords, arms dealers, and Apple executives.

This.

Damn those Apple executives!

[bornil267645]

Yes,of course, they are.

[Este Nuno]

Satoshi's coins have been discussed ad nauseum. So has anonymity. My take is that Satoshi deserves to be a bazillionaire as much as anyone when you consider the drug lords, arms dealers, and Apple executives.

He deserves to be a billionaire, but his coins are also a massive liability for Bitcoin in general. A publicly annouced liquidation plan over x amount of time would go a long way towards helping the future of Bitcoin I think.

[Eastwind]

Satoshi's coins have been discussed ad nauseum. So has anonymity. My take is that Satoshi deserves to be a bazillionaire as much as anyone when you consider the drug lords, arms dealers, and Apple executives.

I think he is worth 10 Nobel Economic Prize.

[claimore]

How can Bitcoin ever become a successful global currency when a single entity is in possession of 5-10% of what will ever be in circulation?! If he decides to sell at any point, huge inflation is guaranteed.
I know it's likely that he'll never sell the coins for the sake of anonymity and personal safety, or for the sake of the system. Possible he has even destroyed the private keys. But it doesn't seem certain enough that we can make that assumption.

I'm a little surprised that this hasn't been more widely discussed - so am I missing something?

The way bitcoin is designed, we can see where his coins came from. If/when he spends them, we can see the amount he spent and the amount he has left.

On the other hand...

With the government, we cannot see how many coins they have or where they came from, but they sure keep on spending!

Which would you trust?

This. Plus he will NOT sell.

[Este Nuno]

How can Bitcoin ever become a successful global currency when a single entity is in possession of 5-10% of what will ever be in circulation?! If he decides to sell at any point, huge inflation is guaranteed.
I know it's likely that he'll never sell the coins for the sake of anonymity and personal safety, or for the sake of the system. Possible he has even destroyed the private keys. But it doesn't seem certain enough that we can make that assumption.

I'm a little surprised that this hasn't been more widely discussed - so am I missing something?

The way bitcoin is designed, we can see where his coins came from. If/when he spends them, we can see the amount he spent and the amount he has left.

On the other hand...

With the government, we cannot see how many coins they have or where they came from, but they sure keep on spending!

Which would you trust?

This. Plus he will NOT sell.

Probably not, but how do you convince your mom, or your friend at the bar that the anonymous creator who holds potentially billions or trillions simply won't sell and crash the market? Even if one single satoshi was moved from any of those known addresses today the market would shit itself. People would be in hysterics.

[Elwar]

How can Bitcoin ever become a successful global currency when a single entity is in possession of 5-10% of what will ever be in circulation?! If he decides to sell at any point, huge inflation is guaranteed.
I know it's likely that he'll never sell the coins for the sake of anonymity and personal safety, or for the sake of the system. Possible he has even destroyed the private keys. But it doesn't seem certain enough that we can make that assumption.

I'm a little surprised that this hasn't been more widely discussed - so am I missing something?

Welcome to Bitcoin!

[pawel7777]

Do we even know for sure how many coins are the "Satoshi's coins"?

From what I know, it has been estimated that he mined about 1 million coins himself, distributed some and the rest is spread over the multiple different wallets.

Do we even know which wallets are assumed to belong to Satoshi?

Cannot find any info.

I found this old article from WIRED:

http://www.wired.com/2013/12/fbi_wallet/

Satoshi stores his wealth in a large number of bitcoin addresses, most of them holding just 50 bitcoins. It’s a bit of a logistical nightmare, but most savvy Bitcoin investors spread out their bitcoins across multiple wallets. That way if they lose the key to one of them or get hacked, all is not lost.

[Beliathon]

He has over 500 million in BTC. If he was going to sell, why wouldn't he have already started?

I don't think Satoshi will ever trade his BTC for fiat scrip. I think he - like many of us - believes in Bitcoin's power to make a better, more peaceful, more just world.

[Este Nuno]

He has over 500 million in BTC. If he was going to sell, why wouldn't he have already started?

I don't think Satoshi will ever trade his BTC for fiat scrip. I think he - like many of us - believes in Bitcoin's power to make a better, more peaceful, more just world.

How do you convince mainstream adopters of that when they don't know anything about Satoshi? Only that he's anonymous.