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« The currency can only succeed if it is expanded or supplemented »

daf

Active member
Just stumbled across this:
« An even more fundamental problem with bitcoins, and indeed any private currency, is that there is no way to limit its supply. True, bitcoins cannot be manufactured beyond the limits set by Nakamoto. But there is no way to prevent future Nakamotos from creating bitcoin substitutes—say, bytecoin, or botcoin. If merchants are willing to accept bitcoins, they will be willing to accept the substitutes, especially as bitcoins become scarce and consumers scramble for substitutes. Nakamoto must have realized this because there are not enough bitcoins to substitute for the currencies around the world. The currency can only succeed if it is expanded or supplemented. But if there are no constraints on substitute digital currencies—and there aren’t—then the value of bitcoins will plummet as the subs begin to circulate. And once it becomes clear that there is no limit, people will realize that their holdings could become worthless at any moment, and demand for bitcoins and the other currencies will collapse, ending the experiment. »

What do you guys think of it?
 
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What do you guys think of it?
well the link is a little old:wink:, perhaps the guy has had time to rethink his doom and gloom predictions for bitcoin, economists in Ivory towers didn't see any of this coming, universities are just beginning to teach courses on crypto so its the next generation who will be more with it, they are lagging behind the cutting edge.
What I would say, is that there will always be downward pressure from miners dumping straight onto the market and this has to be balanced by new buyers otherwise the price will go down (and that goes for any other coin).
It will be interesting when the bitcoin block reward halves because the supply will be cut (happened with litecoin and made no diff with price).
Got a little to go just yet ..
http://www.bitcoinblockhalf.com
 
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