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Sleeping beauty Bitcoin wallets wake up after 14 years to the tune of $2B

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191 points aorloff | 1 comments | 04 Jul 25 18:41 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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throw0101d ◴[04 Jul 25 19:49 UTC] No.44467342[source]▶
Personally I think that this can be considered on the "bug" side of Bitcoin's finite number coins: if, over time, they are lost, then there's a smaller quantity† of currency that is useable to actually do stuff with.

This can make the 'rate of deflation' that occurs worse:

* https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Deflationary_spiral

* https://isps.yale.edu/news/blog/2014/06/the-perils-of-bitcoi...

* https://crypto.bi/deflationary/

† I am aware of satoshis.

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crystaln ◴[04 Jul 25 20:00 UTC] No.44467413[source]▶
Deflation is what you want for investment assets. Btc is primarily a value store and commodity like gold, not a currency. Deflation is a good thing when you are parking value.
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throw0101d ◴[04 Jul 25 20:45 UTC] No.44467754[source]▶
> Deflation is a good thing when you are parking value.

And is deflation a good or bad thing for the livelihood and well-being of human beings?

How many people in the US has a mortgage or some kind of debt (student, medical)? Inflation makes the burden of debt easier, deflation makes it worse.

And the Top (0.)1% already has an easy enough time with parking/generating value. Deflation would only help them more (and make things hard for everyone under them).

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logicchains ◴[04 Jul 25 21:07 UTC] No.44467897[source]▶
Inflation punishes savers and rewards debtors, i.e. it disincentivises the more economically productive behaviour.
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1. thunderfork ◴[04 Jul 25 21:40 UTC] No.44468071[source]▶
Isn't saving (i.e. sitting on assets) less economically productive than spending? Inflation rewards productivity by making productive use of money the only way to avoid loss over time?