Good article that details exactly why the bitcoin is a pyramid scheme

[Cain]

Yeah, I was just reading about that earlier myself.  So much for "decentralised currency"...looks like another way to create a cartel outside of any regulatory power.  Which I'm not entirely convinced was not the point of the project in the first place.

[Ben Shapiro]

Reading this made me lawl.

[xXRon_Paul_42016Xxx(weed)]

Yeah, I was just reading about that earlier myself.  So much for "decentralised currency"...looks like another way to create a cartel outside of any regulatory power.  Which I'm not entirely convinced was not the point of the project in the first place.

You call it a "cartel", I call it a Freedom-Syndicate.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Yeah, I was just reading about that earlier myself.  So much for "decentralised currency"...looks like another way to create a cartel outside of any regulatory power.  Which I'm not entirely convinced was not the point of the project in the first place.

You call it a "cartel", I call it a Freedom-Syndicate.

 

[Cain]

Yeah, I was just reading about that earlier myself.  So much for "decentralised currency"...looks like another way to create a cartel outside of any regulatory power.  Which I'm not entirely convinced was not the point of the project in the first place.

You call it a "cartel", I call it a Freedom-Syndicate.

[Junkenstein]

I'm not sure they will be able to find a buyer for the going rate of the bitcoin.

If they sell it off for cheap the bitcoin gets diluted and the price goes through the floor. If they try sell it for a high amount they will be stuck with it and will have effectively burned a huge pile of cash.

It's kind of the equivalent of the government seizing 10 tons of krokodil, THEN auctioning it off. 

I was wrong. Everyone does win for these exact reasons.

[Junkenstein]

hxxp://www.usmarshals.gov/assets/2014/bitcoins/

One week to go to scrape together $200K deposit to even be able to bid. This also seems to put the lower level value at $67ish/ coin. I've honestly got no idea what's going to happen to the price over the next week but it sure as fuck won't be stable. 

[Telarus]

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/209894-marshals-service-accidentally-reveals-bitcoin-bidders-identities

Marshals Service accidentally reveals bitcoin bidders' identities
By Julian Hattem - 06/19/14 09:37 AM EDT
In a slip-up on Wednesday, the U.S. Marshals Service accidentally released the list of dozens of bidders trying to get their hands on $18 million worth of bitcoin seized by the government last year.

An agency official made a mistake common to many office workers by accidentally cc'ing 40 bidders on a message that meant to bcc the recipients.

As a result, the bidders' email addresses become public and many of their identities were revealed, even though the auction was supposed to be anonymous.
"The message was intended to blind copy everyone with an attached document that contained frequently asked questions and answers on the subject," Marshals spokeswoman Lynzey Donahue explained in a statement.

"The USMS apologizes for this mistake which was in no way intentional."

Among the reported bidders revealed by the email is the public policy director at Yelp, a co-founder of bitcoin firm Coinbase and a finance professor at Rowan University.

The Marshals Service is in the process of auctioning off nearly 30,000 bitcoins that were seized from the Internet black market Silk Road when the government shut it down last year. The marketplace operated solely in bitcoin, which people can use relatively anonymously, and offered a wide range of drugs and other illicit goods.

The 12-hour auction is set to take place on June 27, and winners are due to be notified on June 30. The service is selling off nine blocks of 3,000 bitcoins each and one block of 2,656 bitcoins.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

  It's such an amazing clusterfuck!

[Junkenstein]

Total accident 

[Telarus]

 

[The Johnny]

"... in no way intentional..." cynical fucks 

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

 

[Junkenstein]

Anyone stand out to you?
http://www.coindesk.com/list-possible-silk-road-bitcoin-bidders-allegedly-leaked-us-marshals/

Daniel Folkinshteyn, assistant professor at Rowan University
Barry Silbert, CEO for SecondMarket
Luther Lowe, director of public policy for Yelp
Malcolm Oluwasanmi, chairperson of Little Phoenix Investment Group
Fabrice Evangelista, quantitative arbitrage at BNP Paribas
Michal Handerhanm, co-founder and COO of Bitcoin Shop
Dave Goel, managing general partner of Matrix Capital Management
Dinuka Samarasinghe, investment professional
Chris DeMuth Jr., Rangeley Capital
Fred Ehrsam, co-founder, Coinbase
Jonathan Disner, corporate counsel at DRW Trading Group
William Brindise, head investment manager at DigitalBTC
Michael Moro, director at SecondMarket
Jennifer R. Jacoby, lawyer at WilmerHale
Sam Lee, co-founder, Bitcoins Reserve
Shem Booth-Spain, artist and musician
Avarus Corporation

There appears to be more that have been unlisted for whatever reason. I'll do some searches on those later and see if anything interesting appears.

The USMS indicated that the email was sent to anyone who had emailed to learn about the auction, and suggested that not all of the parties had necessarily expressed an interest in bidding on the bitcoins, though all expressed an interest in the process.

Also, spare your brain and don't read the comments.

[Junkenstein]

Secondmarket (two listings) is worth a look:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SecondMarket

econdMarket (formerly Restricted Stock Partners) is an American online marketplace for buying and selling illiquid assets, including auction‐rate securities, bankruptcy claims, limited partnership interests, private company stock, restricted securities in public companies, structured products, and whole loans.

SecondMarket's participants include global financial institutions, hedge funds, private equity firms, mutual funds, corporations and other institutional and accredited investors.

The website was created in 2004.[1]

SecondMarket says it is the world's biggest broker of venture-backed private-company stock by the value of shares traded.

Government IOUs[edit]
SecondMarket's government warrant market facilitates transactions in registered warrants (IOUs) issued by state governments. When the state of California issued warrants to its creditors in mid-2009, SecondMarket opened up a market place to facilitate the trading of government IOUs.[19]

Bitcoin[edit]
The Bitcoin Investment Trust (BIT) is a private, open-ended trust that derives its value solely from the price of bitcoin. It enables investors to gain exposure to the price movement of bitcoin without the challenges of buying, storing and safekeeping large quantities of bitcoins. SecondMarket acts as the custodian and the trust is audited by Ernst & Young.[4][5] The trust is managed through a subsidiary of SecondMarket.[20]

SecondMarket announced in February 2014 that it planned to open a regulated, US-based bitcoin exchange.[20] It was planning to spin off a separate company for all its Bitcoin activities.

BNP Paribas expressing an interest is worth watching given associated finanical/legal fuckery:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNP_Paribas#Controversies

On 30 May 2014, The Wall Street Journal reported that the United States Department of Justice is negotiating with BNP Paribas over the size of a fine plus a possible guilty plea by the bank for violation of U.S. regulations regarding the bank's alleged evasion of sanctions on dealings with Iran. The Department of Justice reportedly wants the bank to pay the largest fine in history, US$10,000,000,000. The bank is expected to negotiate a fine of no more than US$8,000,000,000. This would still be the largest fine of this kind for violation of U.S. sanctions regulations, with the prior record being approximately US$1,500,000,000.[31]

The size of the fine exceeds the entire profit of the bank during 2013, about US$6,000,000,000, and far exceeds the amount the bank set aside for an expected U.S. fine, approximately US$1,000,000,000

Possibly looking at a way to avoid regulations violations.

Rangely Capital have difficulty understanding words as you or I use them:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/118830139/Rangeley-Capital-Best-Ideas-from-2009-through-the-end-of-2012

Best Investment Ideas
At the beginning of each calendar year, Rangeley Capital publishes two "Best Investment Ideas" for that year. Thefollowing chart shows each idea we have published dating back to 2009, and the simple price appreciation of thatinvestment from January 1 – December 31 for that respective year.Since we began publishing our best ideas, we have never had an idea fail to earn a positive return, and ouraverage return on these ideas is over 45%

2012
Buy - Ocean Shore Holding Company (OSHC)+ 47.1%Short - Direxion 20+ Year Treasury Bull 3X (TMF) - 0.5%

Those with "bitcoin" or such as part of the name I have assumed to be of no interest or value. I would strongly suspect them to be unable to raise the required capital to complete the purchase at auction, particularly since the T+C's of it seem to demand cash within a few days.

Booth-Spain the artist/Musician appears to be a DJ of no real note. Unless he's shifting substantial levels of drugs as part of his work I can't see him having the funds, probably a "social experiment" angle but does help show that this is a list of people who expressed interest, not necessarily put up the required deposit.