Why destroy bitcoins? I keep seeing references to destroying bitcoins by sending them to addresses that nobody can own (e.g., addresses derived from impossible public keys). What would be the reason for doing this? It's discussed in such a cavalier manner in various posts that I'm assuming it's not an attempt to undermine the currency.
A non-malicious reason to deliberately destroy notable amounts of Bitcoins would be for a hypothetical alternative blockchain that recognizes Bitcoins sent to a special address as newly generated coins. One could for example try to establish a new "Altcoin" which is incompatible to Bitcoin, but every private key that signs a Bitcoin transaction to a special impossible Bitcoin address is eligible to also spend an according amount of Altcoins. This would enable a secure one-way conversion to a separate blockchain without the need for exchanges.