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There isn't right now. Someday Bitcoin might fill that role.

• kasey_junk 12y ago
  I'm not trying to be argumentative but lets assume Bitcoin becomes as liquid as USD (ie you can spend it on everything you can on USD without paying any higher transaction fees) what keeps the availability/depreciation matrix in check. That is, if it is a great value store why won't people horde it, thus decreasing availability. If it becomes readily available, why wouldn't it become worth less?
  • awt 12y ago
    Hmm, I'm not sure how to answer that. Hoarding increases the unit price relative to other assets, but doesn't make it any less liquid. Essentially infinitely small amounts of bitcoin can be transacted at any time.
  • mikeash 12y ago
    I think one big problem is fact that there really can't be a long-term nonvolatile store of value. Economic activity is inherently continuous. There are a few goods that last more than a few years without maintenance or replacement. Economic output puts a hard limit on how quickly you can turn your value store into stuff you actually want. For an individual it doesn't make much difference, but when everybody tries to do it, it doesn't work. For an extreme thought experiment, consider if everyone puts half their income into a perfect store of value for a year, living off the other half, then the next year they live off the savings. Everyone would die of starvation the second year even though they supposedly have just as much value available as what sustained them the year before.
    • kasey_junk 12y ago
      Exactly