6 ms·

It'll be interesting to see what happens when a few people own 90% of the bitcoin and everyone else just sort of shrugs and starts using a new cryptocurrency, i

It'll be interesting to see what happens when a few people own 90% of the bitcoin and everyone else just sort of shrugs and starts using a new cryptocurrency, instead.

randlet 9y ago
This is what I don't understand. In the hypothetical case where we switch to using bitcoin won't early adopters be the only people with money? What about the 99.9(9?)% of the population who don't own any bitcoins?
- icebraining 9y ago
  How are you thinking the switch would occur? It's not like the "old" currencies will suddenly lose their value, you'll be able to exchange them for a long time. Plus, most people don't own that much currency anyway; they either get a paycheck (which can start coming in BTC) or an asset like a house, which is valuable in any currency.
  - jerkstate 9y ago
    USD has already declined in value 3x over the past 6 weeks, compared to BTC
    - fnovd 9y ago
      Everything has declined in value over the past 6 weeks compared to BTC.
    - empath75 9y ago
      The value of the dollar has declined a few hundred percent vs the price of nvidia stock in the past year, too. I'm not really sure that sort of comparison makes sense.
  - randlet 9y ago
    When I said "only people with money" I meant "meaningful amount of money" but I can see what you're saying. I'm not sure what I'm struggling with about the concept...time for me to do some more reading / thinking.
- devdas 9y ago
  Welcome to serfdom.
tCfD 9y ago
Committed ideological Bitcoin supporters commonly believe in a network effect race condition spiral they call 'hyperbitcoinization' which models a world where a sort of event horizon in market adoption had been crossed, and everyone on Earth is forced to use bitcoin either directly or indirectly. In this techno-feudalist scenario, being one of the Bitcoin 1% or even 10% means the world is at your feet, and if you've maintained good opsec, nobody may even know how much of their lives are your property.
- burger_moon 9y ago
  Reminds me of this satire post from reddit (4yrs old). https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1lfobc/i_am_a_timetraveler_from_the_future_here_to_beg/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1lfobc/i_am_a_time...
  - varjag 9y ago
    It correctly predicted BTC at $10k in 2017. So much for satire!
    - qbrass 9y ago
      It also incorrectly predicted it from 2013-2017.
- FLUX-YOU 9y ago
  >and if you've maintained good opsec Don't exchanges verify identity? Wouldn't you be committing fraud by maintaining good opsec? Point being is that someone may eventually leak an exchange database with those details. Then the word's out. Kind of like Equifax.
  - tCfD 9y ago
    If you subscribe to the Bitcoin in-universe dogma that views committing fraud and extortion as something that central banks and governments do, not what free market actors entering into voluntary contractual agreements with one another (which are regulated by math and logic spelled out in open source code) do, then maintaining good opsec is not just good business but a moral imperative.
btbuildem 9y ago
Wouldn't the same scenario play out with any other cryptocurrency? Early adopters will sit on the bulk of it.

It'll be interesting to see what happens when a few people own 90% of the bitcoin and everyone else just sort of shrugs and starts using a new cryptocurrency, instead.

randlet 9y ago

This is what I don't understand. In the hypothetical case where we switch to using bitcoin won't early adopters be the only people with money? What about the 99.9(9?)% of the population who don't own any bitcoins?

icebraining 9y ago
How are you thinking the switch would occur? It's not like the "old" currencies will suddenly lose their value, you'll be able to exchange them for a long time. Plus, most people don't own that much currency anyway; they either get a paycheck (which can start coming in BTC) or an asset like a house, which is valuable in any currency.
- jerkstate 9y ago
  USD has already declined in value 3x over the past 6 weeks, compared to BTC
  - fnovd 9y ago
    Everything has declined in value over the past 6 weeks compared to BTC.
  - empath75 9y ago
    The value of the dollar has declined a few hundred percent vs the price of nvidia stock in the past year, too. I'm not really sure that sort of comparison makes sense.
- randlet 9y ago
  When I said "only people with money" I meant "meaningful amount of money" but I can see what you're saying. I'm not sure what I'm struggling with about the concept...time for me to do some more reading / thinking.
devdas 9y ago
Welcome to serfdom.

tCfD 9y ago

Committed ideological Bitcoin supporters commonly believe in a network effect race condition spiral they call 'hyperbitcoinization' which models a world where a sort of event horizon in market adoption had been crossed, and everyone on Earth is forced to use bitcoin either directly or indirectly. In this techno-feudalist scenario, being one of the Bitcoin 1% or even 10% means the world is at your feet, and if you've maintained good opsec, nobody may even know how much of their lives are your property.

burger_moon 9y ago
Reminds me of this satire post from reddit (4yrs old). https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1lfobc/i_am_a_timetraveler_from_the_future_here_to_beg/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1lfobc/i_am_a_time...
- varjag 9y ago
  It correctly predicted BTC at $10k in 2017. So much for satire!
  - qbrass 9y ago
    It also incorrectly predicted it from 2013-2017.
FLUX-YOU 9y ago
>and if you've maintained good opsec Don't exchanges verify identity? Wouldn't you be committing fraud by maintaining good opsec? Point being is that someone may eventually leak an exchange database with those details. Then the word's out. Kind of like Equifax.
- tCfD 9y ago
  If you subscribe to the Bitcoin in-universe dogma that views committing fraud and extortion as something that central banks and governments do, not what free market actors entering into voluntary contractual agreements with one another (which are regulated by math and logic spelled out in open source code) do, then maintaining good opsec is not just good business but a moral imperative.

btbuildem 9y ago

Wouldn't the same scenario play out with any other cryptocurrency? Early adopters will sit on the bulk of it.