Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by jamespitts 4825 days ago
By design, the supply of new bitcoins is slowing down. If there continues to be utility for people to use bitcoins, and this usage is increasing, the value of an individual bitcoin vs. other currencies will increase (averaging out speculative action).

This pattern will very likely continue until an alternative is found. Perhaps the alternative will simply be for holders to return to national currencies, perhaps it will be to adopt a new bitcoin rival for transactions and value storage.

In the short-run, there may be speculation, bubbles, and pops. That gets the attention. But look beyond that. In the long-run, the bitcoin economy may indeed "grow" to many times its current "size".
1 comments
tatsuke95 4825 days ago
Increasing value of currency promotes hoarding, when in fact, bit coin should be promoting spending. If everyone's intention is to buy and hold bit coins,they are useless as currency and become a speculative asset.
link
oleganza 4825 days ago
When everyone has hoarded some bitcoins they can trade them for goods any time they run out of fiat cash or fiat cash is stolen/diluted/frozen, or some arbitrary controls are imposed (e.g. sending money to another country is not easy or cheap). The instant mobility is the true value of "hoarded" bitcoins.
link
tatsuke95 4825 days ago
Everyone can't hoard bit coins, that's the point. Unless you are mining them, which is a small portion of the market I assume, you are buying them from another person. Ie someone else has decided to sell.

I get bit coin, I think it's interesting and useful as an alternative currency. But any hope that it is going to upend USD in any meaningful way is wasted. Dollars are far, far ahead in value, convenience and redeemability. And I don't see that changing anytime soon- at least not soon enough to get in on the speculation.

link
waterlesscloud 4825 days ago
This is the popular wisdom, but I'm not sure it's the whole story.

There's been a fair amount of cashing out the last few weeks, which has the effect of transferring coins from pre-existing large hoards to new, smaller hoards. That's a good thing overall, I think.

The next step is to get those smaller hoards spending, that's the trick.

link