Bitcoin's 21million total coin supply hinders it immensely

[Joshuar]

Bitcoin has a 21 total of 21million coins that could ever be produced.

I think that in itself hinders Bitcoin immensely, I mean there are over 6billion people on Earth, 300million+ just in America, Billion+ in China, etc etc.

Most people, including myself are turned off by the fact that you have to divide bitcoin into ridiculous decimal places. Most people also don't care about having to do the math behind it to figure how much bitoin is worth this object etc etc. It would of been much better if there were different types of bitcoin, like bitcoin=1bitcoin, macrobitcoin=.5bitcoin, microbitcoin= .25 bitcoin etc etc.

This also leads me to believe, that bitcoin was created as a fun Project by Satoshi, if Bitcoin was meant to be serious, then I'm sure it would of had a more realistic number than 21million total coin supply for long term use, this means bitcoin wasn't meant to serious and regarded as it is today by Satoshi..

From first look with the perspective on someone who never seen or heard about bitcoin before, If I saw that Bitcoin had a total coin supply of 21million coins, or that 21million were the max amount of coins that would ever exist and the ridiculous decimal places and math required for bitcoin..I would bypass Bitcoin easily..This is what most people think when they see or hear of bitcoin...

[hilariousandco]

Bitcoin has a 21 total of 21million coins that could ever be produced.

I think that in itself hinders Bitcoin immensely, I mean there are over 6billion people on Earth, 300million+ just in America, Billion+ in China, etc etc.

Most people, including myself are turned off by the fact that you have to divide bitcoin into ridiculous decimal places. Most people also don't care about having to do the math behind it to figure how much bitoin is worth this object etc etc. It would of been much better if there were different types of bitcoin, like bitcoin=1bitcoin, macrobitcoin=.5bitcoin, microbitcoin= .25 bitcoin etc etc.

 

Well there are names for the smaller 'types' millibitcoin etc. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/MilliBit See the units at the bottom.

[Bitcoin Magazine]

the obvious solution is bytecoin.  worth 8 times as much  

[Noruka]

If you are complaining about how the idea of having a currency that is scare to be your store of value then you do not understand the basics of why people desire a currency system like bitcoin.

[grifferz]

Bitcoin has a 21 total of 21million coins that could ever be produced.

That's 2,100,000,000,000,000 Satoshis (BTC0.00000001).

If that ever becomes an issue then a soft fork can add more digits.

This is a non-issue.

[RawDog]

Bitcoin has a 21 total of 21million coins that could ever be produced.

That's 2,100,000,000,000,000 Satoshis (BTC0.00000001).
This is a non-issue.

It is a major issue to morons who flunked math class.  All others don't seem to struggle with this nonissue.

[jbreher]

It would of been much better if there were different types of bitcoin, like bitcoin=1bitcoin, macrobitcoin=.5bitcoin, microbitcoin= .25 bitcoin etc etc.

Logic fail. The prefix 'micro' means one millionth. Period. Always has, always will.

There are already 1,000,000 microBTC (uBTC) in a bitcoin. There are 100 satoshis in a uBTC. There are 1,000 uBTC in a millibitcoin (mBTC). There are 1,000 mBTC in a BTC.

I fail to see a problem.

[odolvlobo]

Most people, including myself are turned off by the fact that you have to divide bitcoin into ridiculous decimal places. Most people also don't care about having to do the math behind it to figure how much bitoin is worth this object etc etc.

You don't know that. You are just assuming that everyone is like you and that people can't adapt.

Also, people have used small fractions in the past. You probably don't realize that the dollar is worth much less than it used to be, and people routinely dealt with small fractions of a dollar when it was worth much more. You could buy a lot of stuff with a half penny. Did you know that that a farthing is 1/960th of a pound sterling?

[williamj2543]

Its true though. If there are 21 million bitcoins, and they currently at about 500$, that means there can be about 10.5 billion dollars worth of bitcoin that is avaliable. That is a massive amount of money, but not enough to hold a lot of money for people like governments, or rich people like bill gates. Satoshi or even less might be the base notation, instead of bitcoin, cause theres like 21 trilion or quadrillion denominations and if they are worth 1000$ each (I wish) thats 21 thousand quadrillion (whatever that number is)

[~Coinseeker~]

Most people, including myself are turned off by the fact that you have to divide bitcoin into ridiculous decimal places. Most people also don't care about having to do the math behind it to figure how much bitoin is worth this object etc etc.

You don't know that. You are just assuming that everyone is like you and that people can't adapt.

Also, people have used small fractions in the past. You probably don't realize that the dollar is worth much less than it used to be, and people routinely dealt with small fractions of a dollar when it was worth much more. You could buy a lot of stuff with a half penny. Did you know that that a farthing is 1/960th of a pound sterling?

People have adapted...to two decimal places.  The OP has a fair point, from the perspective of the general public.  People don't like to deal in fractions of things.  People like whole things.  Many people still can't even count back change.  It's just a reality of society.  

Bitcoin may prove to be useful as a store of value and that's where I think it should put it's focus.  It should stop trying to also be a currency.  It's just not useful.  It's not likely to be widely distributed enough to disrupt major world currencies, because there simply are not enough for everyone to have plenty for use.

Cryptocurrencies that are launching with billions of coins, are on the right track as transactional currencies.  It may be simply a mental thing, but perception is reality.

[countryfree]

I've read somewhere that in a few millions years, the sun is going to die, and we will all die. But I don't care, just like I don't care about the 21 million limit. It shouldn't mean anything to anyone.

[ryanmnercer]

Most people, including myself are turned off by the fact that you have to divide bitcoin into ridiculous decimal places. Most people also don't care about having to do the math behind it to figure how much bitoin is worth this object etc etc.

You don't know that. You are just assuming that everyone is like you and that people can't adapt.

Also, people have used small fractions in the past. You probably don't realize that the dollar is worth much less than it used to be, and people routinely dealt with small fractions of a dollar when it was worth much more. You could buy a lot of stuff with a half penny. Did you know that that a farthing is 1/960th of a pound sterling?

Indeed, half cents existed in the U.S. (for the better part of a cenutry) and elsewhere in the past. Also 3, 5, 10, 15, 25 and 50 cent notes.

[Beliathon]

I've read somewhere that in a few millions years, the sun is going to die, and we will all die. But I don't care, just like I don't care about the 21 million limit. It shouldn't mean anything to anyone.

Best post in thread.

If you have 10btc today, you don't actually have 10 units of wealth. You have 10,000,000 units of wealth. Call them whatever you want.

When the day comes that 1 Satoshi >= 1 dollar, you will understand why that distinction is important.

[Joshuar]

Its true though. If there are 21 million bitcoins, and they currently at about 500$, that means there can be about 10.5 billion dollars worth of bitcoin that is avaliable. That is a massive amount of money, but not enough to hold a lot of money for people like governments, or rich people like bill gates. Satoshi or even less might be the base notation, instead of bitcoin, cause theres like 21 trilion or quadrillion denominations and if they are worth 1000$ each (I wish) thats 21 thousand quadrillion (whatever that number is)

Exactly this^^

[Joshuar]

It would of been much better if there were different types of bitcoin, like bitcoin=1bitcoin, macrobitcoin=.5bitcoin, microbitcoin= .25 bitcoin etc etc.

Logic fail. The prefix 'micro' means one millionth. Period. Always has, always will.

There are already 1,000,000 microBTC (uBTC) in a bitcoin. There are 100 satoshis in a uBTC. There are 1,000 uBTC in a millibitcoin (mBTC). There are 1,000 mBTC in a BTC.

I fail to see a problem.

Problem is exactly what you said..mainstream society, which is Most of Society is turned off by all these "microbits" and "satoshi", it's too irregular. I have friends who don't care about Bitcoin but know the basics about it, wanna know why they dont care? Because bitcoin is offputting with all it's math, and the 21million total limit makes it seem as if the currency itself wasn't designed to be thought of seriously.

[grifferz]

Okay so we covered how "there's only ever going to be 21 million of them!" is a non-issue, now I see we have moved on to "but people find it hard to deal with more than two decimal places!"

Can we agree that if Bitcoin is ever to be wildly successful, we are still a very very long way, if ever, from Bitcoin being the primary currency of any society? And in fact that may never happen and isn't even something that needs to happen for Bitcoin to be considered a success by some people's metrics?

If we are working from that assumption then it also follows that in stores and on web sites, goods and services are going to continue to be denominated in the primary currency of the region. So let's say $ for the purposes of discussion.

In which case it is going to be down to the Bitcoin user's software to perform a meaningful conversion between $ price and BTC price. And many of them already do this in exactly the following way.

So, for example, something today on sale in a store in the US for $123.45 might be purchased for BTC0.27310739. Instead of the Bitcoin app just showing:

BTC0.27310739

it would make sense for it to instead say something like:

mBTC273.10739
(About $123.45)

Also in a world with much greater adoption of Bitcoin we would assume that the fiat to bitcoin exchange rate will not be so volatile so people will be used to knowing that "one $ is worth about mBTC300" and not see that swing massively on a daily basis.

The use of mBTC here is just an example and in reality it will settle down to whatever denomination makes the most sense.

That's already how Android Wallet presents sums, and I find that pretty intuitive.

So again, I do not see the presence of more than two decimal places to be a major issue.

[MiningSensei]

I don't see the problem with people getting used to the denominations.  Everyone does it when they switch from currency to currency. You don't even have to do any calculations when paying, anyway, because it is all digital.

[ArnoldChippy]

It would be more convenient if Bitcoin were to evolve so that 1 unit (say BTC 0.0000001 or whatever) became synonymous with, and had a nominally accepted value of an everyday object such as an apple or a brick or something.

"Bitcoin? That'll do nicely! Your bill, Sir, comes to 4 bricks and 78 pins"


Martin.

[lassdas]

Its true though. If there are 21 million bitcoins, and they currently at about 500$, that means there can be about 10.5 billion dollars worth of bitcoin that is avaliable. That is a massive amount of money, but not enough to hold a lot of money for people like governments, or rich people like bill gates. ..

Exactly this^^

The point is,
if governments, or rich people like bill gates would want to buy all those 21 million (or rather ~12.5 million that are mined so far) coins,
they would fail badly.
They'd probably have to pay way more than 10.5 billion dollars to get even half the coins (if there is that much for sale at all).

[shawshankinmate37927]

Problem is exactly what you said..mainstream society, which is Most of Society is turned off by all these "microbits" and "satoshi", it's too irregular. I have friends who don't care about Bitcoin but know the basics about it, wanna know why they dont care? Because bitcoin is offputting with all it's math, and the 21million total limit makes it seem as if the currency itself wasn't designed to be thought of seriously.

The math isn't that complicated.  Sounds like the problem is with the public education system, not Bitcoin.  Instead of dumbing down Bitcoin, perhaps the sheeple need to wisen up.