Post
Topic
Board Economics
Re: Bitcoin's first major deflation event, and its consequences
by
arepo
on 17/02/2013, 02:55:21 UTC
i would expect a moderator to take discussion more seriously than this.

That's because your mind naturally appeals to authority and you haven't yet learned to restrain that appeal and listen to logic, reason and empirical evidence above else instead.

i would think it's rather because i would expect any poster, at all, to take this discussion more seriously. but having been shouted down and flamed for alternatively beating a dead horse and hating bitcoin, i've lost a little faith in the spirit of open discussion that moderators like yourself try to encourage.

Quote
Believe it or not the issues you raised have been raised so many times already that I seriously doubt you bring anything new to the table and even if you do, you are wrong. Not from an economical perspective but from a technological and philosophical perspective. In case you didn't notice even if you have a valid concern and a valid proposal, Bitcoin's rules can't be changed. So if you think it has a flaw I suggest you take the open source code, modify it and start your own alt cryptocurrency: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=67.0 Because other than that no matter what you say or how much sense you make, for better or for worse, Bitcoin is what Bitcoin is. Take it or leave it. It's up to you.

again, it's not about the fundamentals of the bitcoin protocol, OR any fundamental problem with deflationary currency. try again:

this is going to lead perhaps not to a bubble as it did before, but a massive deflationary event that pushes the purchasing power of bitcoin far above its track for healthy growth (see the height above the SMAs that the price is at right now) and will inevitably lead to massive profit-taking, predatory speculation, and price volatility. many new investors who thought they were going to be rich will find themselves in the same position as those who bought coins at $30. the growth of the userbase is good and should be encouraged not by predatory speculative behavior where earlier adopters laugh as the new users line their pockets, but lower-risk lower-price-point profit-taking that won't introduce massive volatility into the market. the former will help the bitcoin community grow in the long run. the latter will hurt the adoption of btc in the short run.

in other words, it's short-sighted and introduces systemic risk into the community. this is an example of a nash equilibrium that leaves players worse off than if they played in a pre-coordinated manner, like the Prisoner's Dilemma. everyone would be better off if the price of the coins were growing but with less risk of suddenly crashing. at this point purchasing coins is again a very high-risk investment because users have decided to distribute risk amongst the entire userbase while they continue to play musical chairs.

it's about bad behavior. we all agree that ponzi schemes are bad behavior. why is it so difficult to see why this, too, has a negative impact on the adoption of bitcoin? this is all i've been trying to say this entire thread.