6 ms·

The key difference, though, is that fiat currency is easily debased because whoever controls it can print more, while Bitcoin does not have a single owner and c

The key difference, though, is that fiat currency is easily debased because whoever controls it can print more, while Bitcoin does not have a single owner and can only change if the majority of miners agree to do so.

lucozade 9y ago
More specifically, the majority of individuals who control mining. I’d be interested to know how many people would actually need to agree a fork that, say, didn’t halve the coinbase. Also, of those, how many would give priority to the philosophical underpinnings of Bitcoin over making more money in the short/medium term.
- ramontayag 9y ago
  Even if miners could change the rules and print more, do you think the users would continue to use it?
  - mg74 9y ago
    How would the users blacklist the miners using the newer inflationary protocol? Is it even possible? By design, the longest blockchain wins, and that would be the one with the inflation if the majority of miners agreed.
    - naveen99 9y ago
      The 21 million limit is in the user's bitcoin client, not in the miners proof of work.
    - cesarb 9y ago
      > By design, the longest blockchain wins The longest blockchain which follows the rules. If a chain does not follow the rules, it will be ignored by the nodes, even if it's the longest one. To change the rules, you have to update all nodes, not just the miners.
  - lucozade 9y ago
    Why not? They use it today with the current coinbase. Why wouldn’t they use it tomorrow? Some will stop using it, sure. And they probably have enough coin to affect the price short term. But I’d argue that the majority of usage is now not for political/philosophical reasons but for economic ones.
wils1245 9y ago
Why should we have any more faith in the miners? They have a self interest to divert the wealth stored in Bitcoin to themselves, which doesn’t align with my interests as a coin holder.
flashmob 9y ago
That is not a very distinctive difference. Note that it's also not that easy, at least in the developed world, for a Reserve Bank to change the issuance because it has to make sure that the inflation is under control to ensure financial stability, plus there are many other checks and balances in place including legal & regulatory policy, input from economists / researchers, ... The interesting part of the Bitcoin experiment is that so far it has had a very large inflation. This has been decreasing, and the critical part of the experiment will determine if a deflationary currency will work or not. My guess is that it might be in danger of collapse as miners will not want to mine it due to lack of incentive, meanwhile users would not want to transact since most will be hoarding it. Which is when the issuance rate might need to be fixed just to keep the miners rewards going...at least, it's one of the scenarios to consider...

lucozade 9y ago

More specifically, the majority of individuals who control mining. I’d be interested to know how many people would actually need to agree a fork that, say, didn’t halve the coinbase. Also, of those, how many would give priority to the philosophical underpinnings of Bitcoin over making more money in the short/medium term.

ramontayag 9y ago
Even if miners could change the rules and print more, do you think the users would continue to use it?
- mg74 9y ago
  How would the users blacklist the miners using the newer inflationary protocol? Is it even possible? By design, the longest blockchain wins, and that would be the one with the inflation if the majority of miners agreed.
  - naveen99 9y ago
    The 21 million limit is in the user's bitcoin client, not in the miners proof of work.
  - cesarb 9y ago
    > By design, the longest blockchain wins The longest blockchain which follows the rules. If a chain does not follow the rules, it will be ignored by the nodes, even if it's the longest one. To change the rules, you have to update all nodes, not just the miners.
- lucozade 9y ago
  Why not? They use it today with the current coinbase. Why wouldn’t they use it tomorrow? Some will stop using it, sure. And they probably have enough coin to affect the price short term. But I’d argue that the majority of usage is now not for political/philosophical reasons but for economic ones.

wils1245 9y ago

Why should we have any more faith in the miners? They have a self interest to divert the wealth stored in Bitcoin to themselves, which doesn’t align with my interests as a coin holder.

flashmob 9y ago

That is not a very distinctive difference. Note that it's also not that easy, at least in the developed world, for a Reserve Bank to change the issuance because it has to make sure that the inflation is under control to ensure financial stability, plus there are many other checks and balances in place including legal & regulatory policy, input from economists / researchers, ... The interesting part of the Bitcoin experiment is that so far it has had a very large inflation. This has been decreasing, and the critical part of the experiment will determine if a deflationary currency will work or not. My guess is that it might be in danger of collapse as miners will not want to mine it due to lack of incentive, meanwhile users would not want to transact since most will be hoarding it. Which is when the issuance rate might need to be fixed just to keep the miners rewards going...at least, it's one of the scenarios to consider...