Actually I think guvernments of the future (maybe present) will mine BTC. But not to destroy it, but to not miss out if this takes off. They have think tanks that report to them and if Bitcoin gets too much momentum, they surely won't just stand by and do nothing!
They could just not sell the coins they confiscate. They could just keep them and use them as some sort of reserve. It may come in handy at some point. Wikileaks didn't spend their donations as well, and suddenly they were worth a freaking lot - it saved them!
Obviously they wouldn't want the whole world to know that they actively keep those BTC. If one nation starts to notice that other nations stockpile BTC, a big run on BTC would happen. Everyone would want to be the first.
Like the nations stockpiled gold when there was a run for it.
Yes and in addition to that you don't even announce that you already own the stockpile, you just say that you are going to acquire it. This way you have a doubled effect: People get more confidence in the currency + expect a sharp rise due to influx of your governments money. This will lead to a leveraged bitcoinprice that will attrakt private and institutional investors.
That is how I'd do it.
