Post
Topic
Board Economics
Re: Distribution of bitcoin wealth by owner
by
Adrian-x
on 26/11/2013, 21:09:52 UTC
Let us assume that Bitcoin has completely taken over as a currency, and is now used worldwide. Because the emergence of Bitcoin has made commerce boom, the world GDP has grown such that bitcoins alone account for as much value as the physical and financial world did in 2012.

The world uses other methods for everyday payments. Bitcoins themselves are used for large transactions only and a measured in units of mBTC. The wealth is distributed in a similar way as in the article, but to quite different people.


In this order,
* the top 29,000 people would have 5,000mBTC or more, a huge fortune comparable to 100 million of today's dollars.
* the top 1 million people would have 500mBTC or more, corresponding to 10 million or more dollars
* 29 million people have at least 50mBTC, which puts them among the most affluent 0.6%, previously called 'millionaires'
* the upper middle class of 350 million people worldwide, owns 5mBTC or more
* lower middle class consists of 1 billion people is characterized by ownership of 0.5mBTC or more
* the lower class of (3+ billion) owns less than 0.5mBTC including people who don't have any or have negative worth.


Even if you find it hard to believe the dollar part, the number of bitcoins existing is still constant, and will likely be distributed quite exactly according to the table above, when the initial distribution period is completed and bitcoins are used everywhere.

are you sure about those numbers?
cause the first 5 sum up just 4345000000mBTC


They are the lower bounds. Eg. "0.5mBTC or more" means the same as "0.5mBTC - 4.99999mBTC".

In totality, this model assumes 15 million coins. Some of the top 29,000 have vast fortunes such as 50,000mBTC, the early block reward/VIP tag.

I applaud you methodology, and your sentiment issued elsewhere when referring to the redistribution of wealth in Russia, redistributing to a similar hierarchy.   

But I think the distribution may be slightly misguided to base it on the existing distribution, as the existing system transfers wealth from the last earners of money to the top of the primed to the first to spend the newly created money through inflation by design.

Bitcoin will fall into a more natural distribution, not artificially influenced by inflation, and I think the numbers will be more generous to the people at the bottom of the pyramid.