On: What Satoshi Did Not Know (2015) [pdf]

[alxmng]

The purpose of Bitcoin is a digital currency where no central authority can debase the currency. Bitcoin stands in contrast to bank currency like the dollar, where central banks inflate the money supply to prop up the insolvency of their government and its banking cartel.

The fact that mining is a capital intensive operation has little to do with Bitcoin’s decentralization. Nodes cannot change the supply. When I wake up tomorrow I’m reasonably certain there will still be ~21,000,000 bitcoins, while the central bank will have further inflated the money supply https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/Co...

[moomin → alxmng]

There’s nothing wrong with what you’re saying, but I find it hard to see why that matters. I mean, 1) bitcoin still isn’t a currency and there’s no signs of it becoming one 2) the banks and governments seem fine. It’s definitely gaining in value, but so is Apple stock and gold.

But more generally, I don’t see the point. We’ve established that the people who end up with lots of bitcoin are people with lots of fiat money (and some early investors), so all you’re doing here is perpetuating the current economic distribution, and frankly fiat currency and the corresponding banking system is very effective at that already.

[alxmng → moomin]

Someone else having a lot of capital doesn’t prevent me in any way from acquiring or creating wealth. That somebody has more money than me doesn’t concern me.

You’re right, gold and stocks can also preserve capital against the constant depreciation of fiat currencies. I prefer bitcoin to gold because I can more easily hold my own bitcoin and transfer it globally. I don’t own stocks because I don’t care to tie my savings to the performance of various businesses.