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Re:Cryptocurrency chaos as China cracks down on ICOs by simonh on Wednesday September 13, 2017 @04:10AM (#15236396)
Eventually all the BTC will have been mined and no new BTC will ever be created again, unlike regular currencies in which the money supply can always rise alongside the expansion of the economy.

BTC will eventually become a fiscal straight jacket. It may take quite a while to take effect, but is inevitable and the more BTC become integrated into the economy, the more eventual pain it will cause down the line.

Re:Cryptocurrency chaos as China cracks down on ICOs by blueprint on Wednesday September 13, 2017 @04:14AM (#15236427)
All cryptocurrencies are inherently deflationary because one example of an attempt at a cryptocurrency (BTC) is inherently deflationary?
Re:Cryptocurrency chaos as China cracks down on ICOs by erispoe on Wednesday September 13, 2017 @07:35AM (#15237262)
If you have a limited supply of currency in a growing economy, it's inherently deflationary. So far I haven't seen proposals for cryptocurrencies that can grow as a function of the underlying economy. Maybe there are some.
Re:Cryptocurrency chaos as China cracks down on ICOs by simonh on Wednesday September 13, 2017 @07:14AM (#15237178)
All current attempts at cryptocurrencies, of which there are very, very many have been inherently deflationary. Can you point me to a single one either current or even planned that isn't? We are discussing the real world.
Re:Cryptocurrency chaos as China cracks down on ICOs by sanswork on Wednesday September 13, 2017 @08:36AM (#15237663)
Both Ether and Monero are uncapped and deflationary. So 2 out of the top 10 at the moment. I didn't bother checking beyond that.
Re:Cryptocurrency chaos as China cracks down on ICOs by DennisP on Wednesday September 13, 2017 @07:39AM (#15237280)
The only way cryptocurrency would be a straightjacket on the economy is if there were only one cryptocurrency. Actually there are hundreds, and it's trivial to make more. Rather than a digital gold standard, we have a system of competing privately-issued currencies, which Hayek advocated in his book The Denationalization of Money.
Re:Cryptocurrency chaos as China cracks down on ICOs by knocte on Wednesday September 13, 2017 @05:43PM (#15243002)
> Actually there are hundreds, and it's trivial to make more.

Good argument. But people will slowly realize that, to introduce good innovations in new blockchains, they should be setup as side-chains, to not create inflation in the crypto world.

Re:Cryptocurrency chaos as China cracks down on ICOs by DennisP on Wednesday September 13, 2017 @07:36PM (#15243751)
Maybe. I'm just saying cryptocurrency won't give us deflationary constraints, since we can always create new currencies if we want to. If it turns out we do fine just sticking with a few main ones, that's ok too.
Re:Cryptocurrency chaos as China cracks down on ICOs by geomark on Wednesday September 13, 2017 @07:57AM (#15237389)
What's the analogy of a fiscal straight jacket mean? BTC value could increase indefinitely but you can always trade smaller and smaller fractions of BTC.
Re:Cryptocurrency chaos as China cracks down on ICOs by Nursie on Wednesday September 13, 2017 @01:28PM (#15240510)
You have a finite amount trying to represent a growing economy. Work yesterday becomes worth more than work today and the fruits of economic output are retained by those who hold currency.
Re:Cryptocurrency chaos as China cracks down on ICOs by alexasmyths on Wednesday September 13, 2017 @05:59AM (#15236863)
The 'main reason' BTC is deflationary is because it's not used as a currency, and as prices rise, people want to 'hold' thereby creating less liquidity etc.

It's a funny thing to watch.