Welcome to the forums, Vinny. I enjoyed your piece. And to answer your almost-question: very little, especially in the long term, because the selling pressure from merchants is only half the equation. The other half of the equation is "where did those bitcoins come from that are being sold?" Most people have to buy them, so the selling pressure is nearly balanced by the buying pressure on the other side. The other way is mining. Years ago mining was a signficant part of the market. Now, very little coins are mined compared to volume of coins bought/sold/traded.