There will be 21 million ever and he doesn't want any, better that other people have them then, nice of him to get out of the way.
This is a terrible way to think about it. If you do not address the issues merchants are seeing then it will be very hard for Bitcoin to have the wider adoption many hope for. Exchange risk *is* a real concern and you should not shrug it off. Instead we should think about how we can work with merchants and help them understand and manage this risk or even turn it into a non risk.
If you want Bitcoins to matter beyond a tiny sphere, then you have to be ready to solve the problems others are having and not just think about yourself.
This is exactly why I started this thread. I really want Bitcoin to succeed for many reasons. But, I think NMTEACO's concerns are completely valid and the wider Bitcoin community should have a common, well informed, rebuttal for these types of concerns. I'm not a merchant and don't understand merchant issues or concerns, but I do know that things have to be relatively easy before people will adopt new technology for wider use.