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> It doesn't inflate It does currently inflate (currently 900 coins per day), the distinction is that the inflation will decrease over time to zero. One reaso
by paulgb 6y ago
> It doesn't inflate
It does currently inflate (currently 900 coins per day), the distinction is that the inflation will decrease over time to zero.
One reason this is an important distinction is that the network which secures Bitcoin is currently ~85% subsidized by that inflation. A big unknown is whether transaction fees will go up enough to support the current level of security in the network in its non-inflationary state.
- Sammi 6y agoThe amount of total Bitcoin is known and capped.
- paulgb 6y agoYes, because the amount of inflation goes to zero over time. That doesn't mean that there's no inflation now (i.e. that new Bitcoin aren't created every day until that time). (I guess you could argue semantically that mining doesn't “create” Bitcoin but “unlocks” it or something, but it doesn't affect the dynamics I mentioned where the cost of running the network is currently subsidized by the newly unlocked Bitcoin and that subsidy will disappear over time.)
- Sammi 6y agoThe total Bitcoin supply doesn't inflate. And so your assets won't be inflated away.
- paulgb 6y agoAgain, it’s a semantic distinction. I think it’s more accurate to say it inflates at a known rate than “doesn’t inflate”, but I’m not going to argue semantics. It doesn’t address the problem of the network being subsidized by the diminishing pool of remaining unmined bitcoin, and what happens when that pool is exhausted.