[lottin]

No, the international monetary system is perfectly functional, as evidenced by the fact that it supports the global economy just fine.

Bitcoin is neither an alternative to the international monetary system, nor a hedge. It's a joke. A gambling instrument for financially illiterate people.

[t0bia_s]

It's not. Fiat money drives inflation.

The adoption of fiat currency by many countries, from the 18th century onwards, made much larger variations in the supply of money possible. Since then, huge increases in the supply of paper money have occurred in a number of countries, producing hyperinflations – episodes of extreme inflation rates much greater than those observed during earlier periods of commodity money.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_money

[lottin]

Hyperinflation is extremely uncommon, especially in developed countries, and when it occurs it's always caused by incompetent or corrupt governments, not by the currency itself.

[t0bia_s]

Sure, it multiple effect of devaluation of money.

So it's just a matter of time when citizens loose trust in fiat currency and start looking for other solutions, like decentralised cryptocurrency.

[lottin]

Wishful thinking. Cryptocurrencies have failed to gain traction even in countries experiencing hyperinflation. People don't trust a fiat "currency" that is issued by anonymous entities and is backed by nothing. Especially when it's been known to depreciate dramatically in the blink of an eye. People trust fiat currencies that are issued by reputable institutions that give credible assurances about the purchasing power of said currencies. This is why such currencies as the US dollar and the euro are used all over the world for international trade, and cryptocurrencies are not.

[t0bia_s]

Trust in traditional currency shaken quite significantly in last 3 years. Especially when inflation ruins many businesses and government justify inflation by war and green energy.

When you cannot make living from money that you get from your hard work, naturally, you are forced to look at alternatives. As more people adopt cryptocurrencies, the less value traditional currencies had and eventually ignores inflation. Which, for now, bitcoins does. It just isn't that much popular yet.

No one would expect ten years ago that some cryptocurrency would survive or be adopted by more and more people. But somehow, it's still there and grows every year.

If crypto wouldn't be a thing, there wouldn't be plans for digital Euro by ECB for example. Basically same thing as BTC, except with regulations with centralized bank.

To be clear, I'm not a fan of digital currencies. Cash is still most private and free way of exchange method. For digital, you need electricity, device and data which many cannot afford to have.

[pton_xd]

> No, the international monetary system is perfectly functional, as evidenced by the fact that it supports the global economy just fine.

Obviously it is functional, I never said it wasn't!

Inflationary systems have a lot of benefits -- they encourage consumption, erode the value of debt over time, etc. But there are downsides, too. Savings and purchasing power are destroyed over time. They encourage investment in hard assets like real estate and BTC to protect wealth. And so you get some waste, too. There is no free lunch.

[lottin]

The international monetary system isn't a deflationary system per se. It can accommodate a variety of monetary policies, including deflationary policies.

As far as bitcoin being a hard asset, this isn't entirely correct either. Not only does bitcoin not generate income, but it consumes income. You see, the bitcoin network is extremely expensive to maintain, and the owners of bitcoins are the ones who bear the cost. Either they pay with fees -unlikely-, or they'll pay by losing value in their investment -most likely. There's no way around it.