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Notes -
Part of the problem here is that for all its claims to be a valid currency (medium exchanged for goods and services) the most important factor is user buy-in. Gold is at least rare, shiny, and has practical uses. Fiat at least has governments willing to issue it, pay with it, and expect taxes in it. Bitcoin has, I guess, a decade of history and meteoric rising valuations.
Which isn't to say that we couldn't rapidly lose trust in fiat or gold either (goldbugs when the philosophers stone is invented, or asteroid mining), but I do have doubts people would take Bitcoin as seriously if the US Treasury owned a majority stake in it. Although I suppose that feels less existential to crypto as the idea has matured and people hear about it.
I mean, theoretically it would work more like a hostile takeover than a private acquisition. Which is to say, the Federal Reserve would be forced to pay market rates over a period of time allowing others to do the same. Unless they pull an FDR and just outlaw private ownership of Bitcoin the way they did Gold, in which case I agree, it would probably cause people to take Bitcoin a lot less seriously.
If you can get past the obvious 1A issue, that is; Bitcoin being speech and not a physical thing helps in that regard.
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