A proposed "Bitcoin Reserve" would just be the U.S. government taking money from taxpayers and giving it to owners of bitcoin.<p>Why? Well, right now, every dollar that somebody <i>makes</i> selling bitcoin is a dollar which somebody else <i>spends</i> buying bitcoin. On every individual transaction, the buyer spends exactly what the seller makes. Net-net its zero.
Even if you total up all the money gained and lost on bitcoin, the total will be the same amount, whether expressed in dollars, euros, or rubles: Zero.<p>But....what if the U.S. just starts buying bitcoin and holding it. Assume the U.S. never sells it, just like the never sell any gold from the strategic gold reserve. Well...<p>...That in effect reduces the supply of bitcoin, which will drive up the prices. The money which the U.S. spends to buy those bitcoin go to people who sell bitcoin to the U.S. And the U.S. gets nothing back from it, ever. I.E. it is tantamount to just welfare for bitcoin owners. I.E. the government just taking taxpayer money and giving it to owners of bitcoin.<p>I have to admit, I really admire just how seductive this scam is. You take a wolf (which is welfare payments) and dress it up in the sheepskin of libertarian/screw government controlled currency. It pushes every button which somebody who is suspicious of fiat currency.<p>People who otherwise would not support transfer payments from moral principles will be seduced into supporting this. Of course, people who have no moral principles about transfer payments (as long as they are transfer payments to themselves) support it.