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Comment by oleganza | Hacker News Reader

Everyone asks the same question. It does not matter if Coinbase or Expedia "sits" on BTC they receive. As long as there are people willing to sit on them, the price is going to stay the same. The price/liquidity of BTC depends not on who exactly sits on BTC, but on number of hands that own it. More hands -> more demand -> higher price and liquidity.

See also this quote from Rothbard: http://blog.oleganza.com/post/43378777734/on-circulation-of-...

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Unless their employees, partners (hosting, etc) get paid in BTC, it actually does matter if they "sit" on the BTC they receive.

Many businesses and people still require to get paid in USD (EUR, etc) in order to do business. This may not always be this way, but as of today it is.

How does it matter for seller of BTC? Once you sold it, it can be owned by anyone, how is it your concern?

What's important is how many people own it. Not who exactly owns it. Today Coinbase/Bitstamp are doing good business by connecting people who want to buy BTC and sell BTC. As more people will get paid in BTC, more transfers will go directly from customer to employee without exchange intermediaries. But the real adoption does not depend on amount of transfers. That's secondary. Real adoption of money as money is in how many people hold it at every single moment of time. More people -> more demand -> more liquidity -> more value -> more trust.

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