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There are so many glaring issues with BitCoin that it's insane that there are people who are dumb enough to buy it at these prices. 1) 96% of it is controlled

There are so many glaring issues with BitCoin that it's insane that there are people who are dumb enough to buy it at these prices. 1) 96% of it is controlled by 4% of people. That means if it were to become a currency 96% of the wealth in the world would have to be given to 4% of people either through goods or a fiat currency. 2) It's just a matter of time before enough people lose their private keys that the total number of coins in circulation reaches 0. Already, something like 30% of current coins are considered "lost".

ejanus 9y ago
But US wealth is controlled by less than 1%. So, what is the difference
- georgeecollins 9y ago
  Wealth <> currency
  - ejanus 9y ago
    Some math ?
    - georgeecollins 9y ago
      Total wealth of US households = 84.9 T http://time.com/money/3919690/americans-total-net-worth-record/ http://time.com/money/3919690/americans-total-net-worth-reco... Total amount of US currency in circulation = 1.2 T https://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/fedpoint/fed01.html https://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/fedpoint/fed01.html Any way you want to figure it, the amount of wealth that exists does not correspond to the amount of currency in circulation. Both can go up and down independently of each other.
- mattthebaker 9y ago
  Wealth is not primarily held as currency, and currency has inflation.
bringtheaction 9y ago
> 96% of it is controlled by 4% of people Is that true? Source please
- barbegal 9y ago
  4% of addresses contain 96% of Bitcoins[1]. It could be true that 96% of Bitcoins are controlled by 4% of Bitcoin owners but there's no way of knowing. Some addresses belong to multiple people, some to no one, multiple addresses belong to some people... It also depends on what you mean by "controlled by". Large amounts of Bitcoin have been deposited in exchanges where the coin "owners" have no control over the coins. For example Bitfinex stores about 1% of Bitcoins in a single wallet [2] [1] https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-19/cryptocurrency-concentration-just-4-own-over-95-bitcoin https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-19/cryptocurrency-con... [2] https://bitinfocharts.com/bitcoin/address/3D2oetdNuZUqQHPJmcMDDHYoqkyNVsFk9r https://bitinfocharts.com/bitcoin/address/3D2oetdNuZUqQHPJmc...
ricardobeat 9y ago
If 30% is lost, those 4% are actually 6% of active wallets, likely more. Already way better distribution than any capitalist economy in the world, and I’m not sure these numbers are discounting all the single-use addresses created in the past 8 years.
Lewton 9y ago
There are many glaring issues with bitcoin but what you wrote is nonsense No 94% is not owned by 4% of people. The cold wallets behind major exchanges completely skew those number And no, 30% of coins are not “lost”. Realistically it’s closer to 5%
koheripbal 9y ago
There are numerous other coins. Pick the one you think is better and buy it.

ejanus 9y ago

But US wealth is controlled by less than 1%. So, what is the difference

georgeecollins 9y ago
Wealth <> currency
- ejanus 9y ago
  Some math ?
  - georgeecollins 9y ago
    Total wealth of US households = 84.9 T http://time.com/money/3919690/americans-total-net-worth-record/ http://time.com/money/3919690/americans-total-net-worth-reco... Total amount of US currency in circulation = 1.2 T https://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/fedpoint/fed01.html https://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/fedpoint/fed01.html Any way you want to figure it, the amount of wealth that exists does not correspond to the amount of currency in circulation. Both can go up and down independently of each other.
mattthebaker 9y ago
Wealth is not primarily held as currency, and currency has inflation.

bringtheaction 9y ago

> 96% of it is controlled by 4% of people Is that true? Source please

barbegal 9y ago
4% of addresses contain 96% of Bitcoins[1]. It could be true that 96% of Bitcoins are controlled by 4% of Bitcoin owners but there's no way of knowing. Some addresses belong to multiple people, some to no one, multiple addresses belong to some people... It also depends on what you mean by "controlled by". Large amounts of Bitcoin have been deposited in exchanges where the coin "owners" have no control over the coins. For example Bitfinex stores about 1% of Bitcoins in a single wallet [2] [1] https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-19/cryptocurrency-concentration-just-4-own-over-95-bitcoin https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-19/cryptocurrency-con... [2] https://bitinfocharts.com/bitcoin/address/3D2oetdNuZUqQHPJmcMDDHYoqkyNVsFk9r https://bitinfocharts.com/bitcoin/address/3D2oetdNuZUqQHPJmc...

ricardobeat 9y ago

If 30% is lost, those 4% are actually 6% of active wallets, likely more. Already way better distribution than any capitalist economy in the world, and I’m not sure these numbers are discounting all the single-use addresses created in the past 8 years.

Lewton 9y ago

There are many glaring issues with bitcoin but what you wrote is nonsense No 94% is not owned by 4% of people. The cold wallets behind major exchanges completely skew those number And no, 30% of coins are not “lost”. Realistically it’s closer to 5%

koheripbal 9y ago

There are numerous other coins. Pick the one you think is better and buy it.