Ok, so you agree with me that 40% or 33% deflation is quite deadly.


Where would bitcoin be 10 years from now at that rate? $5 * 1.5 = $7.5 per bitcoin, 20 million coins mined, total value $150 million. In other words totally irrelevant to economy. However, you are used to live in a nerd niche, maybe you are comfortable staying there. 

Thanks for your answers (except for the Troll that is). 

DeathAndTaxes and realnowhereman point out that deflation in electronic devices doesn't stop us from buying it. There is some point to that, however let me point out
a) part of the equation here is innovation and not pure deflation: I can't buy the same $1000 PC of 10 years ago for $15 today (assuming approximately 33% deflation per anno) and I don't want to; I want to buy the way faster one that was not even remotely available 10 years ago in the same space and energy envelope, no matter how much I would have been willing to spend.
b) deflation actually does slow down economy in the IT business; there is tons of stuff that I would buy now, if I expected no more innovation and no more falling prices.

More generally, you guys argue that nowadays deflation is usually the result of an economic depression and not its cause. But no government or central bank has ever voluntarily caused a deflation, because they are pretty sure it will cause a huge depression in turn. Sure realnowhereman will still buy water and food, but who with a sane mind would still buy e.g. a house or car if you get two houses or two cars for the same money 18 month later?

But for the sake of arguments, let's assume for a moment, that 33% deflation per anno is acceptable. Where would bitcoin be 10 years from now at that rate? $5 * 64 = $320 per bitcoin, 20 million coins mined, total value $6400 million - sounds like a lot, is just $1 per human being. In other words irrelevant to economy. However, you are used to live in a nerd niche, maybe you are comfortable staying there.

Or do you expect the monetary base of bitcoin to be broadened by book money at banks? BrightAnarchist and Haplo point to credits and bank assets as reasons for current crisis. But I guess you would not put your bitcoins on a bank account, because that would give up most of bitcoins advantages?

Hi there,

so I stumbled over the concept of bitcoins some time ago and I must admit, at first glance it is really appealing. It has some properties that are very much desirable for a currency - anonymous, decentral, protected from inflation.

But looking a bit more into details, there are major drawbacks. All of you are very aware of the upcoming deflation. And you don't care at all? Or do you all hope to have jumped the train early enough to profit from this deflation? Deflation ruins economy and stops the currency from circulating, because spending is just unwise, since you could get much more goods for you bitcoin a bit later.

And what about the guys who were able to easily mine tons of bitcoins in the early days? They own a considerable fraction of all existing bitcoins. If bitcoins become the new world currency, they will literally own half the world - or rather one quarter? Do you think that's fair, acceptable at all? For me it isn't.

So for these two reasons, I feel it is not a good idea to support bitcoins. All of you guys in this forum, and quite some smart guys among you seem to disagree. I'd like to know why.