"The attribute that most clearly distinguishes Bitcoin from fiat currencies and gold is its predetermined scarcity. By design, at most 21 million bitcoins can ever be created. This gives the owner of bitcoins a known percentage of the total possible supply. For instance, an owner of 10 bitcoins would know that at most 2.1 million people on earth (less than 0.03% of the world’s population) could ever have as many bitcoins as they had. Gold, while remaining quite scarce through history, is not immune to increases in supply. If it were ever the case that a new method of mining or acquiring gold became economic, the supply of gold could rise dramatically (examples include sea-floor or asteroid mining)."
To add on to that, gold increased its supply somewhere between 1 and 1.5% last year. And if the price of gold goes up, so will the amount mined as it becomes economically viable to do so and financially incentivized. If the price of Bitcoin goes up, the supply remains the same (for the next 4 years, 6.25 BTC will be mined every 10 minutes) but the added mining incentive just adds extra security to the network as the difficulty adjustment makes it more difficult to mine bitcoins as more mining power is added to the network (and vice versa if mining power is reduced).
Bitcoin's scarcity is coded and backed up by its community who believes in the hard supply cap of 21 million. It is of course possible that that could change in the future (questions over whether the fee market will be enough to secure the network when the final Bitcoin is mined in 2140 and whether the hard cap would be lifted for very minimal inflation if needed), but as long as there is any part of the community that believes in that hard cap, there will always be a version of Bitcoin with the hard cap. Even if the hard cap is lifted, it would be a minimal inflation (as low as possible to secure the network) and most importantly would be known, fixed and not subject to the whims of politicians as with fiat or even future supply shocks as with asteroid mining for gold.
Gold has been a good approximation of scarcity and inflation protection in the past. We now have something better at that.
If the world goes to hell only, ammo, food and gas will matter. What will a lump gold do you if your neighbor is trying to kill you for your freezer meat.
If the world goes to hell only, ammo, food and gas will matter. What will a lump gold do you if your neighbor is trying to kill you for your freezer meat.
If the world goes to hell, that freezer meat is going to spoil. Add salt to your list.
If the world goes to hell only, ammo, food and gas will matter. What will a lump gold do you if your neighbor is trying to kill you for your freezer meat.
"Bullets and beans" has already been taken by @Swaye .
You've been gone for too long. This board moves fast Little Jimmy Cornel. You disappear to that cesspool drinking in the dark at high noon with that rabble who don't love you and don't care about you, and in the meantime we've covered the quantum physics of economic expansionism and debated the virtues of truly classic cars vs. their modern day analogs. And everything in between. You missed all that trying to earn the affection of those miscreants. They won't ever return your love. Stay here. Grow as a person.
Comments
"The attribute that most clearly distinguishes Bitcoin from fiat currencies and gold is its predetermined scarcity. By design, at most 21 million bitcoins can ever be created. This gives the owner of bitcoins a known percentage of the total possible supply. For instance, an owner of 10 bitcoins would know that at most 2.1 million people on earth (less than 0.03% of the world’s population) could ever have as many bitcoins as they had. Gold, while remaining quite scarce through history, is not immune to increases in supply. If it were ever the case that a new method of mining or acquiring gold became economic, the supply of gold could rise dramatically (examples include sea-floor or asteroid mining)."
To add on to that, gold increased its supply somewhere between 1 and 1.5% last year. And if the price of gold goes up, so will the amount mined as it becomes economically viable to do so and financially incentivized. If the price of Bitcoin goes up, the supply remains the same (for the next 4 years, 6.25 BTC will be mined every 10 minutes) but the added mining incentive just adds extra security to the network as the difficulty adjustment makes it more difficult to mine bitcoins as more mining power is added to the network (and vice versa if mining power is reduced).
Bitcoin's scarcity is coded and backed up by its community who believes in the hard supply cap of 21 million. It is of course possible that that could change in the future (questions over whether the fee market will be enough to secure the network when the final Bitcoin is mined in 2140 and whether the hard cap would be lifted for very minimal inflation if needed), but as long as there is any part of the community that believes in that hard cap, there will always be a version of Bitcoin with the hard cap. Even if the hard cap is lifted, it would be a minimal inflation (as low as possible to secure the network) and most importantly would be known, fixed and not subject to the whims of politicians as with fiat or even future supply shocks as with asteroid mining for gold.
Gold has been a good approximation of scarcity and inflation protection in the past. We now have something better at that.
You've been gone for too long. This board moves fast Little Jimmy Cornel. You disappear to that cesspool drinking in the dark at high noon with that rabble who don't love you and don't care about you, and in the meantime we've covered the quantum physics of economic expansionism and debated the virtues of truly classic cars vs. their modern day analogs. And everything in between. You missed all that trying to earn the affection of those miscreants. They won't ever return your love. Stay here. Grow as a person.
@RaceBannon
@MikeSeaver
@DerekJohnson
Charlie says Get Off My Lawn!
Come back Little Jimmy Cornel. You are safe here. Stop trying to make friends in the Tug. @RaceBannon does not care about you. At all.