Only 21.000.000 Bitcoins in existance

[Beefcake]

I doubt the 3-4 million lost number, I think many of those will turn up eventually.

However, spot on when it comes to scarcity.  Compare to XOM, which sometimes has a similar market cap.  XOM has over 4 BILLION shares outstanding!  And more printed all the time!  People who say its a bubble don't truely understand the scarcity of bitcoins.  17 million SOUNDS like a lot, but really it isn't.  If every household in the top 10 nations got even amounts, it would be something like .018 bitcoins each.  This is not individuals and  does not count many many people such as those living in non-traditional households.  By comparison, if everyone wanted to own shares of XOM, they would gladly print more to accommodate as needed.

[steamon]

We can even make our own prices if all miners agreed to sell 10k only price will be 10k. 100k only 100k. 

What a terrible idea, if the miners did that, what makes you think any other holders of bitcoin are going to do the same, miners will be doing everyone a favor except to themselves, remember they are mining to get profits nothing more, so they need to sell some of their bitcoins to pay for their expenses, this is why to try to set any kind of price in an artificial way has always failed, so this suggestion is never going to work.

Yea I understand. When Bitcoin hit around 5.9k the cost to make 1 bitcoin it jumped up straight away. Curious how the rest of the year will go.

[aintnopassincraze]

A simple reason why Bitcoin will never go to $0 is because there are people out there that will snap up every last single one at a given price point (myself included). Keep that in mind next time you are in fear of $0 Bitcoin.

[Cryptonite310]

A simple reason why Bitcoin will never go to $0 is because there are people out there that will snap up every last single one at a given price point (myself included). Keep that in mind next time you are in fear of $0 Bitcoin.

If at some point where the mining farms go out. Say they just don't wanna mine anymore cuz they ain't making any money to pay for the energy.
Then the blockchain would be so slow, nothing would be able to run right?

Or would the chain change difficulty to accustomed the new mining computers?
But that'll take 2 weeks. Most other coins update difficulty every block. BitCoin takes 2 weeks right?

[BelieveInBitcoin]

A simple reason why Bitcoin will never go to $0 is because there are people out there that will snap up every last single one at a given price point (myself included). Keep that in mind next time you are in fear of $0 Bitcoin.

Or would the chain change difficulty to accustomed the new mining computers?
But that'll take 2 weeks. Most other coins update difficulty every block. BitCoin takes 2 weeks right?

That's right - not a perfect system, but it has worked pretty well so far.

[zirt]

Yes, only 21000 btc, that's why all smart guys should have at least 0.5 btc they keep forever, like they would keep gold.
Maybe in a few times 4 BTC can buy an house. Not to mention other promising alts.

[richardsNY]

Or would the chain change difficulty to accustomed the new mining computers?
But that'll take 2 weeks. Most other coins update difficulty every block. BitCoin takes 2 weeks right?

Bitcoin indeed needs around 14 days (2016 blocks) to adjust the difficulty. After the adjustment the network will more and more operate on a normal level again. It has already happened with some of the forks we experienced. Due to the massive difference in difficulty and actual network power, confirmations were taking ages to come through, till the difficulty adjusted itself accordingly, and the block times recovered. Another thing to point out is how miners are playing with Bitcoin in the last months. The constant major jumps in difficulty lead to block times being pushed closer to the 14-15 minute level, while it normally should be closer to the 10 minute level. It's a nasty game being played.

[rockyfeller]

Yes, only 21000 btc, that's why all smart guys should have at least 0.5 btc they keep forever, like they would keep gold.
Maybe in a few times 4 BTC can buy an house. Not to mention other promising alts.

I agree with you we should keep fraction of bitcoin because in the next 10 years bitcoin won't be the same. Price will increase technology emerge and other alts as well. Just hold some bitcoin and don't regret about the price that you buy. it's a matter of time,just be patience!

[Random Seller]

Guys I would like to remember everyone that there are only 21.000.000 Bitcoins in existence around 3 to 4 mil bitcoins are lost permanently. This means that we will have 16 mil bitcoins. Now the twist. 1 small country can buy all the bitcoins. The media has to fud to bring the prices down. They are really worried about Bitcoin and they can't shut it down. Just like skynet.   They will tax it but they can't shut it down.

Really I am having a blast when talking to people about Bitcoin. So many are still skeptical out of 5 only 1 buys. Yes, the market has to correct sometimes. Some are angry at me that they bought in December but they are not seeing the bigger picture. The whales are lacking the tools to properly bring the market down in my opinion. The more people that buy Bitcoin today and hold the more power the whales will lose and they must buy from miners to obtain more bitcoins then.

We can even make our own prices if all miners agreed to sell 10k only price will be 10k. 100k only 100k.  

Corrections are part of this path but we will seek higher heights. 50k+ easy this year.

If miners were to set prices at 10k artificially, the big buyers could just setup mining farms and put miners out of business...

Buying some bitcoins to hold is a good idea, but you need to pay attention when you buy. The bitcoin market is way to volatile now.

It is true the number of bitcoins is finite, but the theoretical number of decimal places is infinite.

[levvv]

Yes it is, bitcoin has a low supply, with a high value in the market.
the manipulator want to buy bitcoin with the cheap parice, so they spread fud that can make bitcoin price go down.
well done manipulator.

[elisabetheva]

Yes, only 21000 btc, that's why all smart guys should have at least 0.5 btc they keep forever, like they would keep gold.
Maybe in a few times 4 BTC can buy an house. Not to mention other promising alts.

really hope it can happen, but until when ... because maybe this month the price is very stable, whether it will happen as at the end of last year? waiting for it because I also want it.

[asdalani]

I doubt the 3-4 million lost number, I think many of those will turn up eventually.

However, spot on when it comes to scarcity.  Compare to XOM, which sometimes has a similar market cap.  XOM has over 4 BILLION shares outstanding!  And more printed all the time!  People who say its a bubble don't truely understand the scarcity of bitcoins.  17 million SOUNDS like a lot, but really it isn't.  If every household in the top 10 nations got even amounts, it would be something like .018 bitcoins each.  This is not individuals and  does not count many many people such as those living in non-traditional households.  By comparison, if everyone wanted to own shares of XOM, they would gladly print more to accommodate as needed.

3 or 4 million Bitcoins can get lost since there is a lot of people dying and not telling people about their coins, throwing computers away, sending to the wrong address and so forth.

[LuanX3]

I can't see the point of this discussion though. There is nothing here to discuss about the 21 MLN Bitcoin in existence and this is just plainly speculating the price will go up without any basis but the supply of bitcoins being something finite and there is such a thing like correction (like all things traded, this happens).  I would suggest that you further the discussion by adding something new to everyone reading and not some plain BS like this.

[BrewMaster]

Yes it is, bitcoin has a low supply, with a high value in the market.
the manipulator want to buy bitcoin with the cheap parice, so they spread fud that can make bitcoin price go down.
well done manipulator.

it is not a "low" supply. it is more like a reasonable amount than low or high.

but the important thing about bitcoin's supply is that it is limited. which means there can not be more than 21 million coins no matter what. unlike the traditional money and a lot of altcoins such as ethereum which print unlimited amount of it.