[thanksgiving]

Couldn't we say the same thing about gold? I'm sure if you look far enough, you'll find someone willing to "sell" you gold and hold the gold for you when they don't have the said gold.

Or replace gold with US dollars or tulips or Amazon.com stock or whatever.

How is this a Bitcoin issue?

[blunte]

This absolutely has been done with gold mining ventures, just as it was done with oil drilling ventures. That's why some regulation on solicitation of investments in crypto currency ventures would be beneficial. It is developing though.