Isn't this a bit presumptuous? Ross William Ulbricht hasn't yet been convicted of anything. I know that they aren't selling his personal bitcoins, but in the (highly unlikely) event that he is found innocent, wouldn't that mean that the Silk Road assets need to be returned to him? How then can they sell them now?
For Sale: 29,656.51306529 Bitcoins
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Re: For Sale: 29,656.51306529 Bitcoins
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well considering that's around $16.7 million, I'm not surprised. What's more amusing is that the auction is "cash only".
I take that to mean cash in the sense of liquid assets, as opposed to something leveraged or what have you. Not cash in the sense of a briefcase full of cash.
That would be a big briefcase.
Re: For Sale: 29,656.51306529 Bitcoins
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_and_demand Increasing supply always reduces the market price.
But the supply hasn't increased. These bitcoins existed prior to the offer of sale. The only thing that increased was the free float.
That counts as supply. Silver in the earth also exists prior to sale, but it only counts when you actually sell it.
Re: For Sale: 29,656.51306529 Bitcoins
#64Could someone explain the logic behind the price drop? Is that related to the fact that those 30k will be sold below the standard price? For some reason it seems counter-intuitive for me, since the money connected to those coins have been already paid once (whether for mining them or via exchange). So in practice it's more like they've been actually paid for ~twice now, so the effect "should" be opposite.
It's possible they're trying to drive the price down.
Maybe some of the people who are looking to bid on these bitcoins are driving the price down, so that they won't have to bid as much to win them. Then when they price recovers they can start selling them off slowly at a profit.
Re: For Sale: 29,656.51306529 Bitcoins
#65Isn't this a bit presumptuous? Ross William Ulbricht hasn't yet been convicted of anything. I know that they aren't selling his personal bitcoins, but in the (highly unlikely) event that he is found innocent, wouldn't that mean that the Silk Road assets need to be returned to him? How then can they sell them now?
It is presumptuous, but that is how civil forfeiture works. Its atrocious.
Take a look at this well written article by the New Yorker Taken: The Use and Abuse of Civil Forfeiture http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/08/12/130812fa_fact_...
Re: For Sale: 29,656.51306529 Bitcoins
#66It would be funnier if the bitcoin exchanges blocked those blockchains as having been permanently compromised. It would prevent the feds from having an incentive to seize bitcoins.
> It would prevent the feds from having an incentive to seize bitcoins. No it wouldn't. Law enforcement seizes to deprive criminals of gain from illicit activities, not to make a profit. They sell because they can. It also wouldn't be funny. The US Marshall's service is doing what it is supposed to. If you have problems with federal law enforcement try a country that lacks a professional police force.
Plenty of law enforcement organizations seize money to make a profit, with very little regard to whether the owners are criminals or whether the money is the fruit of illicit activities:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/08/12/130812fa_fact_...
Re: For Sale: 29,656.51306529 Bitcoins
#67Could someone explain the logic behind the price drop? Is that related to the fact that those 30k will be sold below the standard price? For some reason it seems counter-intuitive for me, since the money connected to those coins have been already paid once (whether for mining them or via exchange). So in practice it's more like they've been actually paid for ~twice now, so the effect "should" be opposite.
That's an interesting understanding of how currency works. There is no currency connected to bitcoin. There is an exchange rate. Someone out there willing to give you X dollars for Y bitcoins. (Consider the concept of X dollars for Y barrels of gas, or Z oz of gold). Money is used multiple times. The dollar you spend at the store is then split up and spent again, and again, and again. So the value of the whole curren…
The increased [bit-]money supply doesn't explain the observed price drop - it would explain a price drop, but much, much smaller than this one; those 30k bitcoins is a rather tiny part of the whole bitcoins in circulation; so obviously some other reasons dominate this particular price change.
If US treasury prints a billion dollars, then that doesn't trigger a 10% drop in value of a US dollar - it's a comparably tiny change with a tiny effect; similarly an extra 30k BTC is not by itself a reason for large fluctuation if the market is functioning properly.
Re: For Sale: 29,656.51306529 Bitcoins
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_and_demand Increasing supply always reduces the market price.
But the supply hasn't increased. These bitcoins existed prior to the offer of sale. The only thing that increased was the free float.
The publicly available portion of something is the supply of a good.
That would be like saying the supply of uranium in the universe hasn't increased, the only thing that increased was the free float of uranium (say due to new mining technologies, or the sale of previously restricted stocks).
Re: For Sale: 29,656.51306529 Bitcoins
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not really. Seized properties often sell for less than half of the market value... doesn't mean the property is worth half now... it means the government can't be bothered to take on the responsibility of selling the property at full retail -- ie. they just want to get rid of the assets and move on.
but it does show that bitcoins are NOT considered the same thing as cash. You would not see the case where JPY or GBP or EUR would be sold off at this level of discount...
They're not as volatile though. There's a fair amount of risk in taking on that much Bitcoin at once.
Re: For Sale: 29,656.51306529 Bitcoins
#70Someone should steal these before they can sell them