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Re:Wall Street rethinks blockchain projects as euphoria meet... by simias on Thursday March 29, 2018 @04:37PM (#16710818)
That's not the argument. The idea is that if a given amount of bitcoins is set to increase in value as time passes (as is supposed to happen if the currency is successful) you don't have a lot of incentive to invest or spend your money.

If you have $100 on your bank account today then you've got incentives to spend or invest it soon because it's slowly losing value because of inflation, your $100 will probably buy you fewer goods and services in the future that it does now.

Now if you have BTC100 on your wallet and you believe that Bitcoin will succeed as a currency then you know for a fact that these bitcoins will be more valuable in the future than they are now (because the demand will grow but the supply is capped). Ergo you have strong incentives to hoard your bitcoins and not spend or invest them. Your savings gain value without actually being invested in anything. They don't contribute to the economy, they don't fund anything.

I don't understand why most cryptocurrency enthusiasts don't see a huge problem in this. How will you get a loan to start your company in the bitcoin world? Who would want to take such a risk when they'll keep getting richer by not doing anything at all? You'd have to promise them ridiculously high returns (higher than bitcoin's deflation at least). The rich gets richer by virtue of being rich, the poor needs to buy food and basic utilities so they can't save their coins to become rich. Basically what we have today, only worse.

Re:Wall Street rethinks blockchain projects as euphoria meet... by freedomben on Thursday March 29, 2018 @07:16PM (#16712106)
I am a big supporter of crypto currencies, and I do see a problem in that. However, the current volatility will level off significantly once there is wider adoption. That will help reduce incentive to hold. I would never recommend somebody give/accept loans in crypto currencies right now. The time will come though (unless governments squash crypto through regulation or outright banning).

That said, there's no guarantee that BTC or any crypto will appreciate indefinitely; in fact quite the opposite. It can (and does) lose value.

This also overlooks the benefits of a non-fiat currency, such as protection against things like hyper-inflation (most of us don't think about this right now, but if you have any friends in Venezuela ask them how important this protection is).

Re:Wall Street rethinks blockchain projects as euphoria meet... by eropple on Thursday March 29, 2018 @07:41PM (#16712268)
> However, the current volatility will level off significantly once there is wider adoption.

Begging the question.

Re:Wall Street rethinks blockchain projects as euphoria meet... by not_kurt_godel on Thursday March 29, 2018 @09:12PM (#16712796)
Ask someone in Venezuela how useful a Bitcoin is when you have no way to get food.
Re:Wall Street rethinks blockchain projects as euphoria meet... by tim333 on Thursday March 29, 2018 @11:33PM (#16713483)
I'd imagine very useful - just sell it for a few thousand and then "Including Venezuela's equivalent of food stamps, the total pay package now rises to 250,531 bolivars, or $32.19 a month" so it should cover that for a while. Or a flight out.