The fixed quantity is a problem because of a general theory of how money works. Bitcoin is effectively an artifically limited gold standard, with all of its p

The fixed quantity is a problem because of a general theory of how money works. Bitcoin is effectively an artifically limited gold standard, with all of its positive and negative attributes. In (very) short terms: consider an economy with three goods: money, bonds, and output (i.e. stuff or servcies we buy). There's a supply and demand for all three. Except one of them (money) has a finite supply limit. When supply of bonds is high and demand low (such as when we've had a financial crisis and people are paying down debt), we eventually run into a case where price of bonds (i.e. their interest rates) are 0%. That means that the price of money soars, and the price of output tanks. That's called deflation, and it's really painful to the productive economy. People sitting on money doing nothing are fine, but output falls dramatically. The working class are wiped out in a spiral of "making less & spending less". Most of us would rather have an economy where output grows and everyone is better off. In theory, the ability to "split" bitcoins infinitely would fix the problem, but I think people may have psychological problems with dealing with millionth's of a fraction of a bitcoin for no reason except that the Bitcoin creaters arbitrarily decided there would be no more than 21 million of them.