I wouldn't be surprised if this pump and dump of a plausible rumour is designed to just-get-the-idea-into-the-mind-of-people so that when (if) it actually starts to be acknowledged that its actually is happening, the price moves up much quicker and decidedly because the FOMO has already been sown into the minds of people most likely to buy .. and the Russians profit more this way.

Timing, of course, would be everything - most likely when the US$ starts a decline like during the last bull run in BTC ... and that time is coming soon, IMO ...

.. my 2 Satoshi worth.  

If there is an element of truth that a country like Russia starts buying BTC - increasingly -  then other countries will have to follow for FOMO, to avoid competitive trade disadvantage and to stop Russia from having too much influence on BTC holdings, and price.  That would be an imperative.  Just because there doesn't appear to be much price activity atm doesn't mean it couldn't all go up much much quicker than in 2017, IMO, as countries put large potential buy strategies in place using intermediary cyptos, just in case, like Russia.

I think this will certainly happen when other countries start dumping their US$ holdings and there is a race to the bottom with other currencies having to devalue as the world economy declines. In this case, BTC price to the moon when simply priced against devalued fiat currency.

I'm not buying more because of this article, just HODLing what I have and hoping that the biggest whales (countries) will one day soon compete to snap them up...

Russia to buy $10billion in BTC to evade US sanctions...

https://www.infowars.com/russia-to-buy-up-to-10-billion-in-bitcoin-to-evade-us-sanctions-report/

Here is a link to monitor transactions at the hacker's advertised address: https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/192ZobzfZxAkacLGmg9oY4M9y8MVTPxh7U

Not much action, as yet, might be early days or it could be a hoax...

Agreed, but would the hackers risk a big dump on some exchange/s which would quickly be raided by FBI CIA et.al. given they will move heaven and earth to stop the release of these 18,000 documents and to get these guys.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-01/pay-fck-hackers-threaten-dump-secret-911-attack-files-if-bitcoin-ransom-not-met

Dark Overlord hackers demand for ransom payment paid in BTC might lead to higher prices, if significant BTC purchases are made...  your thoughts?

Ok, it seems that most people here aren't that interested in revealing what group of ownership they have ... hopefully because you all have so much you feel you need to keep that to yourself ... fair enough and good luck to us all!!!

Yeah, I bought some things last year with my BTC and I'm now regretting it, because with the BTC price rise, what I bought has ending up costing me 3 times what I paid for it, in fiat currency. 

I'm now a Hodler planning to BTFD, which is now I think.

I'm in Group B and planning to get into Group C this year.

I think it would be interesting to see how committed to hodling BTC ownership people on this Bitcoin forum are at this time.

In a recent article on Zerohedge - which surprised me:

"....  53% of all bitcoin wallets (15,000,000+) have a net balance of <= .001 BTC or ~$15 US,    while 75% of all BTC addresses have a balance < $140 US (0.01 BTC)."

Q1.  Which BTC ownership group do you best identify yourself being in at this time in January 2018?

Group (A) ... less that or equal to owning  .001 BTC (approx US$15)
Group (B) ... less that or equal to owning    .01 BTC (approx US$140)
Group (C) ... less that or equal to owning      .1 BTC (approx US$1400)
Group (D) ... less that or equal to owning       1 BTC (approx US$14000)
Group (E) ... less that or equal to owning       2 BTC (approx US$28000)
Group (F) ... more than                                2 BTC (approx US$28000)

Q2. How many BTC do you think you will plan to own this year, and next?

If there are lots of replies to this, perhaps a poll would be the best way to see the results.

My wife and I cruise every 2 years or so, but would like to be able to do it full time...

I've heard of a woman (I'm sure there are others) who pays to cruise all year round, on the same ship, no doubt at a discount.

She has her 'own' cabin, knows all the crew, loves new ports of call, and revisiting dozens of others she refreshes her memories and experiences.

If my cypto life eventually allows, we'd like to try lots of cruise ships and pick one and try that for a year, then maybe continue or change ... just to keep exploring all over the world ... returning home to check the mail once a year...nah, maybe not...