Will the United States government establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve before 2026?
Displaying poll results.12618 total votes.
Ask five economists and you'll get five different explanations (six if one went to Harvard). -- Edgar R. Fiedler
"Strategic" and Bitcoin (Score:2)
"Strategic" and Bitcoin and don't even belong in the same sentence due to the instability of Bitcoin. I'm assuming the poll really is asking about a "Central Bank Digital Currency" (CBDC).
1. The power of user currency is that they can't be controlled by governments. Government's don't control the supply of it.
2. The Fed has already [investopedia.com] discussed pros and cons of a CBDC.
Re: (Score:2)
The real reason it won't be done: Imagine what happens to some really big banks when people have a widely accepted, easy to use digital currency that doesn't hit them for 20% APY if they spend too much, or charge them transaction fees or membership fees, etc.
This doesn't sound like the future administration's definition of "capitalism".
Re: (Score:2)
Indeed. The inability for banks to take their cut with CBDC definitely makes one wonder just how large a factor it it plays with governments opposing digital currency.
Re: (Score:2)
Banks don't make money with transaction fees, they make money traditionally from loan interests and nowadays also from investment fees (that are not a static amount of dollars, but percentage of invested amount, which makes it profitable).
Switching to Bitcoin does not remove the need to loan money and you don't have to use a bank to loan money, there are plenty of companies that loan money.
Re:"Strategic" and Bitcoin (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:1)
No, the poll was about Bitcoin
This is why I voted "no" - Musk will stop them wasting time with bitcoin. He'll insist they bet it all on dogecoin instead.
Re:whipslash = Bitcoin Pusher (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Ah yes, stating what the poll is about makes me a bitcon pusher. Got it thanks galaxy brain
Prove them wrong then - implement a 'cryptocurrency' story filter - you know, the thing we've been screaming to have for years now [1-25].
Short of that, then I'd agree that the Slashdot staff are "Bitcoin pushers", given the amount of cryptocurrency stories constantly polluting the front page. [slashdot.org]
[1]https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=23518603&cid=64941171
[2]https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=23518603&cid=64941007
[3]https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=23457051&cid=64792809
[4]https://slashd
Look who's talking (Score:2)
Look who's talking: "Anonymous Coward" - the biggest whiner of them all.
Re:"Strategic" and Bitcoin (Score:5, Interesting)
Voted yes (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Voted yes (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Meet the new Godwin. Same as the old. (Score:5, Informative)
The real TDS is believing he's fit to be anything more than a dump in the carbon cycle.
Re: (Score:2)
Trump has limited power. If he does too many too stupid things, he can be impeached again. This time successfully, because it will be his own side that sees the ship sinking fast.
Re:Voted yes (Score:4, Insightful)
You're so cute when you're optimistic. "Interesting... but delusional."
Re:Voted yes (Score:4, Insightful)
Impeachment is an utterly broken remedy. No one will ever be successfully convicted. The Founders done fucked up.
There are other more brutal remedies, but they are unacceptable. The Founders were hoping to avoid them. They failed.
In the age of the Unitary Executive, there is no reasonable remedy but the ballot box. We decided. Don't expect impeachment to rescue us from it.
Re:Voted yes (Score:4, Insightful)
Impeachment is an utterly broken remedy. No one will ever be successfully convicted. The Founders done fucked up.
It could've worked as intended (I'm sure it would've for Nixon if he hadn't resigned first), if it weren't for the real fuckups: folks like Mitch "Walking Cadaver" McConnell claiming it "wasn't the right remedy" (it was) and instead deferring to the courts, which the criminal stacked in his favor.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, the old lingering Bitch McTurtle. Has he finally transformed into a transparent jelly or is he still in the process? I wouldn't be surprised if he turned into a bad smell that lingered around the halls waiting for its chance to regain human-like form in servitude of a new master.
Re: (Score:2)
Glitch McConnell, the rigor mortis tortoise.
Re: (Score:2)
The Founders done fucked-up.
"If we don't impeach this president, he will be re-elected."
-- Placard in US HoR chambers, 2019.
Re:Vot[ing] yes [for impeachment] (Score:2)
Second thought on your comment. Maybe it was even part of the trigger for a fresh multi-step delusion of hope for the future:
(1) Imagine the orange buffoon commits fresh offenses worthy of impeachment. This step is so easy, but I don't want to offer any ideas. "Go ahead, surprise me!"
(2) Enough people notice that there is a big blue wave in 2026. This step seems so unlikely in many ways. The Dems are such experts at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory and I even regard it as likely the election will g
Re: (Score:2)
Is it stupid?
Yes.
Re:Voted yes (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Voted yes (Score:4, Informative)
Surely it would be a Dogecoin reserve, given Elon Musk is the new First Lady.
Re: (Score:2)
Ummm, I haven't been keeping count (America's shame, not the RoTW's) but shouldn't that be "Second Stormy", or "fifth Melania", or "New Ivanka mask-wearer" or something?
Re: (Score:2)
Mod parent Funny and too true. Basically my reaction, though I couldn't bring myself to even vote on such a stupid poll. Begging for a Cowboy Neal option, perhaps something like "No need since they can just ask Cowboy Neal to take care of it with his humongous hoard of cryptocurrencies."
Having said that, I wonder why the current poll result is mostly No. Early votes from crypto bros?
Re: (Score:2)
I was tempted to do the same but I think this idea's irrelevance is likely to overpower its stupidity. It's basically just a cryptobro fanfiction idea that no officials have actually raised. I also thought that maybe closer to 2028 could be a more likely timeline since it could be a way to gin up some cryptobro votes, but then I thought the Republicans likely won't be concerned with having to win elections by that point...
Re: (Score:3)
Re: Voted yes (Score:1)
What kind of fake "reserve" would that be? (Score:2)
BTC is a pure fantasy construct, no real value.
Re: (Score:3)
BTC is a pure fantasy construct, no real value.
You know why you can only say that softly?
Because the house of cards full of make-believe value we call a “stock market” might hear you. And fall over.
Again.
Re: (Score:2)
Another one to mod up as Funny for the saddest reasons. But the nasty part is the way the blame game winds will blow afterwards.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Because the house of cards full of make-believe value we call a “stock market” might hear you. And fall over.
You are comparing the stock market to BTC? How stupid can you be? At least with stock you have a stake in the ownership of the company it is issued by. What "asset" is behind a bitcoin? Absolutely zero. Idjit
Re: What kind of fake "reserve" would that be? (Score:2)
Re: What kind of fake "reserve" would that be? (Score:2)
Nvidia's PE is just as sky high as any other tech company and you are preaching about "assets", lol!
Re: What kind of fake "reserve" would that be? (Score:2)
US dollar is only a fantasy construct. It's right on the money: "in god we trust"
Not very trustyworthy to pledge trust to your favorite ficticious character on money!
Missing poll option (Score:3)
They already have it (Score:2)
It's just that it's all the seized bitcoin already in their posession.
Will it be stolen before 2026? (Score:2)
All that money is going to attract the thieves, like flies to a fresh turd. The only significant question is whether it'll be one of the public faces of government that will steal it, or some minor functionary - who will be dead and distributed (or worse, distributed and not (entirely) dead yet) before the theft has been realised and the audit systems realise the money has gone.
Why would we want one? (Score:2)
What would be the purpose of having a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve?
Re: Why would we want one? (Score:2)
No, with the only difference is that a "strategic gold reserve" typically still allows them to borrow gold out of the storage. If a Bitcoin Reserve were done correctly, we could all be able to monitor the balance of that wallet. How many eyes are allowed in gold vaults? Lol, VERY FEW!
Re: (Score:2)
The reserve would need to be stocked, and that presumably allows the big players in BTC (hobbyists need not apply, obviously, because they're just little people) to deposit some (most?) of their pretend money in the reserve in return for a promissary note that can then be quietly withdrawn in something more liquid, like USD. At that point the Fed (read "US taxpayer and owners of US govern
Yes... (Score:2)
This sounds like an Elon idea and I think he'd do it...
Whether or not this is a good idea...I'm not so sure...
Re:Yes... (Score:5, Interesting)
Strategic Bacon Reserve (Score:2)
Given the volatility of Bitcoin and the deliciousness of bacon, I think a Strategic Bacon Reserve would be a better policy.
Maybe not BTC (Score:2)
Probably another crypto currency Trump and Musk can buy and then boost by forcing the government to pump, before they dump it again.
Bitcoin was a prototype... (Score:2)
I'm not as negative on cryptocurrencies as most of /. - although I do think they have seen a lot of abuse and misuse. They have a role to play in the world.
However, specifically Bitcoin? It was a great, indeed brilliant prototype. It should never have become *the* cryptocurrency. As with almost any "first" implementation, a lot of lessons have been learned, and subsequent implementations are far better.
As far as the survey goes - a national reserve of Bitcoin (or, indeed, any cryptocurrency) makes littl
there would be zero benefit of that (Score:2)
This is the most useless idea I've ever heard and I work in tech so that's saying something.
Re: (Score:2)
Missing option (Score:2)
The question is what the "Strategy" will be (Score:2)
Such a strategic reserve could serve multiple strategies... from inflating the value to exchanging Bitcoin into dollars before the Bitcoin value collapses.
Anti Bitcoin bias here is hilarious (Score:2)
First off, anyone here using critical thinking skills and game theory should have already thrown some bucks in at some point in the last decade. What the hell?
Bitcoin made me wealthy. It can still make you wealthy.
Bitcoin has two states; zero, or it grows to consume all free liquid capital and ends up a proxy for global GDP growth. The implications of it's economics are clear, and we now have more than a decade of validation.
This is the very definition of asymmetric bet.
There is a tremendous first mover adv
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe that's because most of us are tired [slashdot.org] of seeing stories about another financial system based on "shitcoins" (which includes Bitcoin: the original shitcoin) run by another set of toxic bros [slashdot.org] constantly polluting the front page [slashdot.org] - the fact those shitcoins all run on computers doesn't warrant so many stories on a tech site. Like, why aren't we seeing stories about the Dow Jones and Wall St., etc. all the time too since all of it basically runs on computers too now?