I like the whole idea of bitcoin, but I'd still chose to buy silver over bitcoin as a "banks go tits up" or Hyperinflation hedge. I'd only buy bitcoin as a speculative play with a small percentage of total net worth bet. 1-2% I said I was going to buy in at 50 bucks and never did because the process of buying was too much for me. Now it seems even harder to get em. I don't really want to meet up with some dude from online craigslist style dealing with a multithousand dollar transaction that I don't 100% understand. You guys losing sleep over this are in too deep. Lighten your position. Although it is kind of fun to hear about the stories of dudes taking out 30k cash advances and double tripling or quading their money. You don't hear about the ones who lose very often though. Who bot above $200?
This is a very funny development. The FBI did sieze about 28,000 bitcoins from the silk road escrow account on the website.... But the owners personal stash of 600,000 bitcoins or roughly $80 mill US dollars worth. They can't get it " âClosing down the Silk Road and arresting its alleged operator has left the FBI in uncharted territory. After shuttering the hidden site, law enforcement went to work confiscating the money and materials belonging to supposed drug kingpin Ross Ulbricht, but this usually routine procedure is proving especially troublesome in this case. The cache of more than 600,000 bitcoins in Ulbrichtâs personal fortune are still inaccessible to the FBI. The only way to move Bitcoins out of a private wallet is to have the corresponding private key to authorize the transaction. The FBI has been unable to get through the encryption protecting Ulbrichtâs wallet, leaving all those Bitcoins â amounting to roughly $80 million at current rates â out of reach." http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-10-08/bitcoin-1-0-fbi
The Feds have a proven technique for those with buried cash and that's what this is. The put two plea bargains on the table after they come in with their 45 count indictment. Behind door number one is the six to twelve year deal which includes not only giving up the private key but using it to transfer the wealth to The Courts escrow account. Behind door number two is the 64 year deal (eight squared) but you don't have to give up the private key while door number three let's you spin the wheel in court. If you spin the wheel in court lots of transport needs to be done getting you there from where you are at, getting you back a number of times after delays they engineer. In one of those van rides Tucco (from Breaking Bad) is there asking for a cigarette, or a one and one of meth or whatever and when you give him the wrong answer he knocks out all your teeth and gives you a concussion. They then let you know that door number three could involve tons of transport due to delay and after numerous concusions you get your day in court which probably results in 25 or 30 years hanging out with Tucco's cousins. As you can see when in "uncharted territory" the Feds still have some old standby leverage. Breakfast with Tucco anyone?
my question is how the Feds going to convert those bitcoins to cash even if they manage to get it. A private auction? heh
No. Like calling market tops and bottoms, calling the end of Bitcoin is a fruitless exercise. As long as Bitcoin fills a need it will continue to be useful.
And it will be useful as long as the US and EU don't outlaw it. Once that happens the price will collapse. Now just for the record, the price recovered in 2-3 days after the SR's shutdown. That was a quick 30% profit for the faithful...
"They" can outlaw it only in the sense that it becomes against the law. But as long as 2 people are willing to exchange goods and services for BTC how can they be stopped? All that will happen is that businesses that operate in the open won't be able to accept BTC anymore. How many businesses is that? Not many. It's like the Spanish Inquisition decreeing that the earth is flat and the center of the universe.