[dllthomas]

Over time, we've decided that focusing on something that works optimally as a medium of exchange and sufficiently as a store of value is better than the alternative. As I've said, I'm not convinced this is devastating, but it's a concern, and is orthogonal to divisibility.

[grinnbearit]

Who 'we'? And why do they feel its better than the alternative? I can see why the digital dollar trumps gold, the transaction costs are way lower but I don't think bitcoin has the same problem.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, store-of-value > medium-of-exchange or the other way around. Darwinism in all its glory.

[dllthomas]

It's certainly the case that gold has problems that bitcoin does not.

It will indeed be interesting to see how things play out, though interesting isn't always good. It might also not be a very good experiment. Path dependence is huge, and the store-of-value role seems likely to play a bigger role in trying to shape expectations around an otherwise ephemeral digital currency while bootstrapping, yet a focus on it might nonetheless wind up ham-stringing us in the long run...

Which, to be sure, is very much like Darwinism has played out in many other contexts.