Bitcoin (BTC) can crash hard, but not so hard that it ends up costing $0 — because one man is going to buy all of it.
In tweets on July 9, entrepreneur and outspoken Bitcoin bull Alistair Milne revealed that he had placed an order for 18.52 million BTC ($174 billion) — more than the current supply — on exchange Bitfinex.
Milne: I’m buying all the Bitcoin at 1 cent
In what appears to be more a tongue-in-cheek gesture than concern that Bitcoin is in for a major fall, Milne uploaded a screenshot of the Bitfinex orderbook.
“I hereby confirm that #Bitcoin will never go to zero (at least on @bitfinex),” he wrote.
“I'm buying them all at $0.01.”
In order to complete the purchase, Milne will need the princely sum of $185,200 — currently equal to 19.7 BTC if he chooses to set aside a portion of his holdings for such an eventuality.
Bitfinex orderbook showing Alistair Milne’s buy order for 18.52 million BTC. Source: Alistair Milne/ Twitter
Bitcoin at $0 — a hard sell
Despite the overwhelming likelihood that Bitcoin will not in fact drop to anywhere near zero thanks to network incentives, the cryptocurrency is not without its vocal detractors.
As Cointelegraph reported, gold bug Peter Schiff remains among those who believe that Bitcoin is ultimately going down, while gold will win out.
Other critics may no longer be as sure as they once were. In 2018, ex-PayPal CEO Bill Harris claimed that Bitcoin was destined to cost $0. Two years later, rumors began spreading that PayPal was actually about to integrate cryptocurrency payments.
One of the industry’s most faithful non-technical monitors of Bitcoin sentiment, 99bitcoins’ Obituaries column, currently has 381 recorded instances of Bitcoin “dying.”
Its most recent entry is from Cointelegraph, reporting on veteran U.S. investor Jim Rogers’ misgivings about Bitcoin. After his words, RT host Max Keiser claimed that both he and Schiff would ultimately buy up huge amounts of BTC once it hits $50,000.