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Elon Musk says dogecoin is better to buy things with than Bitcoin

6 points by mgh2 5y ago

rvz 5y ago
He's not wrong. Bitcoin has failed at being what Satoshi originally envisioned it to being - a peer-to-peer (decentralized) electronic cash system. Now it is a 'store-of-value' somehow. I cannot use Bitcoin (or Ethereum) to pay for my groceries without waiting more than 10 mins for the transaction to confirm and spending more on the fees itself. There are other cryptocurrencies that can do this much better and will survive regulatory action in the future. Many meme-coins that have 'no use' will likely wither away once regulations come.
jfengel 5y ago
Well... in a trivial sense he's right. Bitcoin is intended to be deflationary. Your currency will be worth more in the future. Dogecoin is intended to be inflationary; if you sit on it, it will lose value. So if you own some, your best use of it is to spend it sooner rather than later. I think he's hinting at that, though it's a little unclear. That's macroeconomics 101. The government likes a little inflation to encourage you to spend your money, thus giving job-holders something to do and inventors a reason to invent. Not too much inflation, which destabilizes things, but the Bitcoin dream of negative inflation makes for a stagnant economy. Participants in an economy don't want a "store of value". That's money under the mattress, which might as well not exist. They want an economy that grows, producing more jobs and encouraging more innovation. Dogecoin is probably not a good currency for that, either. But it's better than Bitcoin, which isn't even presented as a currency any more, as people re-invent Econ 101.
- tromp 5y ago
  Dogecoin is disinflationary [1]. [1] https://john-tromp.medium.com/a-case-for-using-soft-total-supply-1169a188d153 https://john-tromp.medium.com/a-case-for-using-soft-total-su...
ashwagary 5y ago
He's wrong. Bitcoin on the lightning network works perfectly well for cheap, fast payments. El Salvador proved this.

6 points by mgh2 5y ago

rvz 5y ago

He's not wrong. Bitcoin has failed at being what Satoshi originally envisioned it to being - a peer-to-peer (decentralized) electronic cash system. Now it is a 'store-of-value' somehow. I cannot use Bitcoin (or Ethereum) to pay for my groceries without waiting more than 10 mins for the transaction to confirm and spending more on the fees itself. There are other cryptocurrencies that can do this much better and will survive regulatory action in the future. Many meme-coins that have 'no use' will likely wither away once regulations come.

jfengel 5y ago

Well... in a trivial sense he's right. Bitcoin is intended to be deflationary. Your currency will be worth more in the future. Dogecoin is intended to be inflationary; if you sit on it, it will lose value. So if you own some, your best use of it is to spend it sooner rather than later. I think he's hinting at that, though it's a little unclear. That's macroeconomics 101. The government likes a little inflation to encourage you to spend your money, thus giving job-holders something to do and inventors a reason to invent. Not too much inflation, which destabilizes things, but the Bitcoin dream of negative inflation makes for a stagnant economy. Participants in an economy don't want a "store of value". That's money under the mattress, which might as well not exist. They want an economy that grows, producing more jobs and encouraging more innovation. Dogecoin is probably not a good currency for that, either. But it's better than Bitcoin, which isn't even presented as a currency any more, as people re-invent Econ 101.

tromp 5y ago
Dogecoin is disinflationary [1]. [1] https://john-tromp.medium.com/a-case-for-using-soft-total-supply-1169a188d153 https://john-tromp.medium.com/a-case-for-using-soft-total-su...

ashwagary 5y ago

He's wrong. Bitcoin on the lightning network works perfectly well for cheap, fast payments. El Salvador proved this.