Bitcoin as a leading currency?

[cipherer]

The economic reach of Bitcoin is an interesting subject of discussion. In the end there will be a maximum of 21.000.000 BTC. BTC is a eight-digit number.
I suppose that a currency can only be leading if it has the possibility ta pay in small amounts, equivalent tot e.g. dollarcent or eurocent. This statement limits the range of BTC, will the satoshi be the future euro/dollarcent?
In that case the maximum money supply wil be BTC 21.000.000,00000000 is e.g. EUR 99.999.999.999.999,99 (by the way: interesting exchange rate).
The money supply in the Eurozone (M3) is over EUR 10.000.000.000.000
So without any constraints, the structure of the BTC satisfies the necessary condition.
Let's inventory the other constraints.

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[OmegaStarScream]

The maximum amount that will ever be mined is 21 million bitcoin yes, but It's impossible for that amount to be in circulation even when everything is mined because people are losing their bitcoins all the time and they are lost forever.

Bitcoin is unlikely to become a leading currency simply because the banking system won't let it happen. Its unstoppable but won't be the main currency for sure. As for paying using smalls amounts, that's not really where bitcoin strength shows but hopefully with Lightning Network, that would be possible.

[xhomerx10]

• Sovereignty
• Stabililty
• Scalability

[cipherer]

Indeed, Bitcoin can get lost, so it will get lost. In that case in the end (at last after the mining-process is done) the BTC-supply will be a negative growth function. Are there any empirical data/maths about this decreasing process? Will this negative growth be significant for excluding "Bitcoin as a leading currency"?

[onrise]

For 9 years we have seen that bitcoin is the leading currency as there are thousands of other alt coins came and went but only bitcoin could withstand this for years and price rose to all time high of 1600+. Near future it could be even more who knows it.

[n0ne]

For 9 years we have seen that bitcoin is the leading currency as there are thousands of other alt coins came and went but only bitcoin could withstand this for years and price rose to all time high of 1600+. Near future it could be even more who knows it.

Same as explained based on bitcoin's technology several other altcoins got existence and very few stay in the growth path, remaining has went out of use. So it's true that bitcoin from the beginning serve as a potential alternative for fiat and the same will grow bigger and bigger as the adoption is increasing along with legalized usage in few countries.

[Slark]

Total cap of Bitcoin currency units that will ever exist stands at 2.100.000.000.000.000 or 2.1 quadrillion it will be perfectly fine to satisfy growing adoption for many many years to come.
In fact I expect that we will have many network scaling upgrades before adding another decimal place will be needed, or we won't never reach that point.
I don't see Bitcoin as main leading currency, not in the foreseeable future. We will have digital crypto issued by central bank, and bitcoin will be merely an alternative.

[Xester]

Total cap of Bitcoin currency units that will ever exist stands at 2.100.000.000.000.000 or 2.1 quadrillion it will be perfectly fine to satisfy growing adoption for many many years to come.
In fact I expect that we will have many network scaling upgrades before adding another decimal place will be needed, or we won't never reach that point.
I don't see Bitcoin as main leading currency, not in the foreseeable future. We will have digital crypto issued by central bank, and bitcoin will be merely an alternative.

Bitcoin will be the leading cryptocurrency but for the government bitcoin will be the leading commodity that has a value and can be used as a form of payment. The government have not seen bitcoin as a currency and therefore it can never be the leading currency. ANd even if the government will treat bitcoin as a currency the total number of bitcoin in circulation cannot serve the total number of population of people around the world.

[cellard]

Bitcoin is ultimately deflationary, since in the year 2140, when all bitcoins are mined, the loss of bitcoin continues, because you can't remove the error factor of humans losing passwords, getting their hardware broken and irreparable with the coins in it, be it hard disks, trezors or pendrives, accidents like your house burning with the coins in it including paperwallets... people will keep losing coins.

Some argue this will lead to deflationary spiral. I think this is a non issue, because due the digital nature of bitcoin, it can continue growing as long as there's demand, and if required, we can have more than 8 decimal points to cater for big values per coin while not losing the ability to do micropayments (BTC will be eventually worth millions of dollars, so 1 satoshi will be too high to cater for micropayments, which means we will need more decimal points).

[olubams]

This argument have been discussed several times and equally laid to rest. Its a simple fact that was even included in the White paper if I am correct that the amount of BTc required to purchase any amount of commodity will reduce as the value of BTC increases and that will solve the issue of limit in the quantity available to go round considering that some will even be lost forever.

[DrGuns4Hands]

You can't say that bitcoin is a leading currency right now because it's decentralized currency at the same time it's crypto currenct which is developed with a anonymity features and other good features but if bitcoin will be determined as a currency and like a fiat money. it will make the economy more lesser because the features itself will be gone.

[cipherer]

This argument have been discussed several times and equally laid to rest. Its a simple fact that was even included in the White paper if I am correct that the amount of BTc required to purchase any amount of commodity will reduce as the value of BTC increases and that will solve the issue of limit in the quantity available to go round considering that some will even be lost forever.

Clear, but i assume that 8 digits and the possibility for micropayments is a relevant constraint. In that case it will noy completely solve the issue of quantity. I read about a 9-digit, but isn't that a change of concept?

[death69]

For 9 years we have seen that bitcoin is the leading currency as there are thousands of other alt coins came and went but only bitcoin could withstand this for years and price rose to all time high of 1600+. Near future it could be even more who knows it.

it is obvious that the prices of Bitcoin will still increase in the future. But look at all other altcoin, all of them are joining the race against each other and even bitcoin. They are trying to become the best crypto on this planet

[stompix]

The economic reach of Bitcoin is an interesting subject of discussion. In the end there will be a maximum of 21.000.000 BTC. BTC is a eight-digit number.
I suppose that a currency can only be leading if it has the possibility ta pay in small amounts, equivalent tot e.g. dollarcent or eurocent. This statement limits the range of BTC, will the satoshi be the future euro/dollarcent?
In that case the maximum money supply wil be BTC 21.000.000,00000000 is e.g. EUR 99.999.999.999.999,99 (by the way: interesting exchange rate).
The money supply in the Eurozone (M3) is over EUR 10.000.000.000.000
So without any constraints, the structure of the BTC satisfies the necessary condition.
Let's inventory the other constraints.

Have you heard of mBTC, bits and satoshi?
There are 10 millions satoshi in a bitcoin.

That's pretty much enough for now on.
And if it would really pose a problem a hardfork would solve it but again it is not necessary.

[Underwoods]

Because the cap is just 21 million bitcoins that will ever be mined, I think that will never happen.
Bitcoin is just not liquid enough and because of this cap, it will never be. Besides this, the circulation of the BTC can not compete with currencies like the dollar in the near future.

Interesting question by the way.

[Hazir]

That's pretty much enough for now on.
And if it would really pose a problem a hardfork would solve it but again it is not necessary.

Even if hard fork/upgrade was really necessary and needed I have doubt it would be done.
We can see that needed changes - scaling upgrade is neglected for at least 2 years and there is still no solution at hand.
If bitcoin can't successfully manage its own upgrades we might see grim future ahead.

[Underwoods]

That's pretty much enough for now on.
And if it would really pose a problem a hardfork would solve it but again it is not necessary.

Even if hard fork/upgrade was really necessary and needed I have doubt it would be done.
We can see that needed changes - scaling upgrade is neglected for at least 2 years and there is still no solution at hand.
If bitcoin can't successfully manage its own upgrades we might see grim future ahead.

Interesting, I think it will depend on the question whether financial institutions and governments will embrace the blockchain.
Not so much de development of Bitcoin itself, but rather the ecosystem around it.

[freebutcaged]

@OP congratulations, you have just figured the secret behind the Bitcoin's design which was a public knowledge from the start but not many really think about it. here is the code and it functions like this and like that and here is the supporting community.

If you do the following> 20*20=400.

Earth population only increases over time.

Resources are consumed overtly.

Governments are printing too much fiat causing inflation.

Bitcoin doesn't have inflation, it's like a glass of water, if you fill it with liquid gold then does it still hold the same value as the water?

Reminds me of this theory; there is only one female on earth capable of giving birth(there is a TV series about it as well) could you imagine the worth and importance of that lady? she's indeed priceless.

20 years from now Bitcoin will have a price more than $50k/BTC.

[xuan87]

If you said bitcoin is the leading currency in the crypto currency then everyone will be agree, but if you are talking about comparing bitcoin and Dollar or Euro then bitcoin will never defeat them, fiat money is controlled by the government and basically got no limit because they can just create more, while bitcoin got a limit, so there wont be enough for bitcoin to dominate fiat and of course the government will never agree with the idea of bitcoin become a leading currency

[xhomerx10]

@OP congratulations, ...

Bitcoin doesn't have inflation, it's like a glass of water, if you fill it with liquid gold then does it still hold the same value as the water?

Reminds me of this...

 So it's more like a glass of liquid gold then?  You lost me.
Would it be possible to illustrate this some other way?  I would like to understand.