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Topic: What happens when the US Government liquidates 144,000 BTC? (Read 3417 times)

full member
Activity: 196
Merit: 100
The price will crash from 10,000 to 7,000 and take 3 weeks to recover.

A 30% drop from 144k BTC? You're nuts.
You are so wrong bra, according to clarke moody mt gox, an at the market sell order of only 87,000 btc will bring the price down to $50. check it for yourself if you don't believe me yip yip!

The price is not 10,000 eighter, so in future it can happen...
what did u just say brah?
sr. member
Activity: 344
Merit: 250
The price will crash from 10,000 to 7,000 and take 3 weeks to recover.

A 30% drop from 144k BTC? You're nuts.
You are so wrong bra, according to clarke moody mt gox, an at the market sell order of only 87,000 btc will bring the price down to $50. check it for yourself if you don't believe me yip yip!

The price is not 10,000 eighter, so in future it can happen...
full member
Activity: 196
Merit: 100
The price will crash from 10,000 to 7,000 and take 3 weeks to recover.

A 30% drop from 144k BTC? You're nuts.
You are so wrong bra, according to clarke moody mt gox, an at the market sell order of only 87,000 btc will bring the price down to $50. check it for yourself if you don't believe me yip yip!
legendary
Activity: 896
Merit: 1000
The price will crash from 10,000 to 7,000 and take 3 weeks to recover.

A 30% drop from 144k BTC? You're nuts.
sr. member
Activity: 476
Merit: 250
The price will crash from 10,000 to 7,000 and take 3 weeks to recover.

With all the bad news from china i doubt that we 'll see even threads about 10000$ for a while. Let alone the actual price...
hero member
Activity: 728
Merit: 500
The price will crash from 10,000 to 7,000 and take 3 weeks to recover.
legendary
Activity: 1176
Merit: 1010
Borsche
If they sell the coins I think it would be the same as with any other stolen (oops, confiscated) property - via a private auction. So I doubt these coins would see the market right away. But definitely, some of it would, eventually.


They arrested him with his computer on and his wallet open.  Since he was under surveillance, they probably timed the arrest for WHEN he had his wallet open.

Which wallet allows a withdraw without a confirmation password / full decrypt? I think he might have cooperated on this one, otherwise seems unlikely. And really, having all wallets with 100k coins open and decrypted at the same time? He's Dread, not Dumb Smiley
full member
Activity: 210
Merit: 100
Crypto News & Tutorials - Coinramble.com
I'd expect they will keep it for another year or so.  Roll Eyes
sr. member
Activity: 378
Merit: 255
How did they seize all those coins? I thought part of the appeal of Bitcoin was that your coins couldnt be seized or frozen as long as nobody knows your wallet password...

They arrested him with his computer on and his wallet open.  Since he was under surveillance, they probably timed the arrest for WHEN he had his wallet open.
hero member
Activity: 812
Merit: 587
Space Lord
They can hold them, never release them.  BTC has an actual limit in quantity.  Having 144,000 of them is kind of like holding a hostage.

US Government does NOT like BTC remember.

The US Government doesn't miss business opportunities.
legendary
Activity: 1400
Merit: 1013
I thought part of the appeal of Bitcoin was that your coins couldnt be seized or frozen as long as nobody knows your wallet password...
One you hand your coins over to somebody else to manage for you (deposit them in an account on some web site), they aren't your coins any more.
hero member
Activity: 1036
Merit: 500
How did they seize all those coins? I thought part of the appeal of Bitcoin was that your coins couldnt be seized or frozen as long as nobody knows your wallet password...
hero member
Activity: 503
Merit: 501
IMO, if any government gets involved, its going to lose every positive factor that bitcoin advocates appreciate.

It will just become another currency.

They are all involved. Their rules are already in place and regulation is everywhere. What government did do in the United States was to clarify how it plans to react to it. There was one speaker (in those 6 hours of vids) that said, major criminals won't use Bitcoin because it is so traceable.
legendary
Activity: 1162
Merit: 1007
What kind of effect will this have on the Bitcoin economy?  Holding so many coins give them immense power over the entire Bitcoin economy, as they're able to rash the market whenever they decide to pull the trigger.  Has anyone pondered what would happen to the bitcoin economy once the Ulbricht trial is over, and the coins are liquidated?

They won't sell them on the exchange.  It will be auctioned off like other forfeited property.  If you want to participate you will wire earnest money to the US treasury in advance.

You don't really think the sovereign nation of the United States is going to transfer >$200 million worth of coins to some place like BTC-e just so the operator can say "oops we got hacked" and retire the next day do you?

Yes, they will auction them off, as D&T describes. 

If the auction is well-advertised and transparent, I predict the bitcoins sell for *greater* than the prevailing market price at the time.  People on this forum worry about large sellers crashing the price.  But remember, large buyers wanting to get in have the opposite worry (rallying the price too high before they've established their position).  This auction would be a good opportunity for wealthy individuals or funds to establish a large position without slippage. 
donator
Activity: 1218
Merit: 1079
Gerald Davis
There is no such thing as innocent until proven guilty that is just a quaint phrase to make people sleep good at night. [...]

The law is to presume someone's innocent until they're proven guilty.  This is very different from someone actually *being* innocent until proven guilty, which would be a bit of an epistemological magic trick.

Yeah the law DOESN'T presume you are innocent until proven guilty, like I said that is something people say to make them sleep well at night.  If the law presumed you were innocent until the state can proven it then the state would be unable to do things like perform arrests with mere probable cause (a far lower burden then "beyond all reasonable doubt"), remand defendants (holding you in prison without bail until such time as you can prove that you are not guilty), or place the burden/cost of a defense on the defendant even one later found to be innocent (yeah maybe you don't lose your freedom but you still lose the time and cost of your successful defense).

All you are guaranteed is due process.  Nothing more, nothing less.
sr. member
Activity: 476
Merit: 250
What kind of effect will this have on the Bitcoin economy?  Holding so many coins give them immense power over the entire Bitcoin economy, as they'd be able to crash the market whenever they decide to pull the trigger.  They may try to sell them off slowly... or maybe they won't.  These are bureaucrats we're talking about, who are beholden to a lot of powerful people.  Has anyone pondered what would happen to the bitcoin economy once the Ulbricht trial is over, and all the coins are unloaded?

If they sell the coins then the market will crash and then it will recover in an hour or something. If they don't sell then nothing will happen. In any case nothing will happen.
full member
Activity: 166
Merit: 101
There is no such thing as innocent until proven guilty that is just a quaint phrase to make people sleep good at night. [...]

The law is to presume someone's innocent until they're proven guilty.  This is very different from someone actually *being* innocent until proven guilty, which would be a bit of an epistemological magic trick.
legendary
Activity: 3878
Merit: 1193
You don't really think the sovereign nation of the United States is going to transfer >$200 million worth of coins to some place like BTC-e just so the operator can say "oops we got hacked" and retire the next day do you?

Quote of the day.
legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 1000
Before they liquidate, they will say they "accidentally" threw out the hard drive they were storing them on and at a later date re-allocate the "lost" bitcoins to the CIA. ez game
full member
Activity: 160
Merit: 101
Keeping them would mean treating bitcoins like USD, which just isn't going to happen any time this decade.
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