Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

This effectively killed my interest in the currency completely. I've stopped mining it.

I suspect this may be what they want: to keep it basically worthless so people keep using it to tip people large amounts and have fun with it, and to drive away investors and people looking to profit.



to drive away investors and people looking to profit.

Holy shit, you mean it's a currency that will encourage trading rather than hoarding? The horror!


Why would you trade it? You can just mine more as you need it?

You aren't going to sell any goods for it because the value today is likely worth less tomorrow unless you can "cash it out" immediately.


Why would you trade it? You can just mine more as you need it?

Mining is resource-intensive.

the value today is likely worth less tomorrow unless you can "cash it out" immediately.

Exactly! Not only is this like almost every other good on the planet, it encourages trade.


Mining hasn't been AS expensive as I thought it was going to be. Costs me about $1 a day in electricity.


If this is the case, why not just use the US dollar? At least banks are secure enough to not get robbed every few weeks (or have a security system by a 15 year old php developer).

Eventually, the government will see bitcoin as a true currency, regulate the hell out of it, and all of these things like having no transaction fees will be non-existent.


In 2015 it won't be resource intensive.

We should be on 3rd or 4th generation asic scrypt miners by then which maybe means you'll be able to get a $20 usb stick that makes you 10k coins a month with a single kilowatt of power per month.


But when everyone has a $20 USB stick capable of mining 10k coins a month on today's difficulty, that difficulty will go up dramatically. Mining will always be expensive to everyone but those with early access to next generation hardware.


That's not how mining works. More miners = higher difficulty = lower rewards. Plus 4th gen ASIC scrypt in 2015 when there's only one now and no more coming for many months? Unlikely.


5% inflation does not a Weimar Repulic make.


It will encourage tipping (giving it away in large numbers), not real trading. As mentioned elsewhere, why sell goods for it if the value will keep dropping?


why sell goods for it if the value will keep dropping?

You know the USD is inflationary, right? I don't see people having had a problem selling goods in the US since 1970.

You don't sell goods to get money to hold on to for the rest of your life.

You sell goods so you can, with the profit, immediately purchase other goods that you need (either to live or to invest in).


Does the USD lose 5% value each year?

FIVE percent. Think about that.

I am hoping it is a zero to 10k block reward which would change all this. But looking at the code I think it is 10k fixed.


More like 2-4%: http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/historical-in...

I'll grant 5% is a tad high, but it's the right order of magnitude.


> it's the right order of magnitude

Probably even closer when you consider that cryptocoins suffer much more "loss" than USD does. People lose wallets, get hard drives wiped, etc., which are deflationary events that partly counter any built-in monetary inflation. Whereas losses of USD due to things like setting bills on fire or losing them in a lake amount to a miniscule portion of total USD outstanding.

Imo it's even plausible that Dogecoin's current loss rate is >5%, in which case the currency would still be deflationary even with the new coins being added.


>Whereas losses of USD due to things like setting bills on fire or losing them in a lake amount to a miniscule portion of total USD outstanding.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing redeems partially destroyed or badly damaged currency as a free public service.

Every year the U.S. Treasury handles approximately 30,000 claims and redeems mutilated currency valued at over $30 million.

http://www.moneyfactory.gov/uscurrency/damagedcurrency.html


When banks sit on money and refuse to make loans, or people stuff dollars under the mattress, that has a short-term deflationary effect, for as long as the money is locked up.


You need >50% of a bill for them to redeem it, though.


On average about 3% a year.

That's the "rule" I was always taught anyways.

some years it has been over double 5% a year.

http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/historical-in...

We have been lucky to have low inflation for the last several years. My mom was trying to establish her adult life during the double digit inflation of the late 70s early 80s and talks about how hard it was and how high the interest rates were.


5% is pretty steep. The rate's been relatively low for the last couple years. In 2007, it went over 4%.

http://usinflation.org/us-inflation-rate/


Bitcoin went from 10.7M to 12.3M in the last year. That's 15%. But of course it deflated quite a lot in that time due to rising demand.

Doge will add 5% to the total supply in the first year, but that will be less every year -- it's a fixed number, not a fixed percent, assuming the title of the your OP is correct. (Not sure about this.)

Of course, that doesn't account for lost coins. Given how doge is used, I am sure a lot of the new coins will actually be replacing lost coins.


It's only 5% the first year. Since it's a flat amount, the % of the inflation would reduce every year.


Why would you buy any goods if the value ouf your "currency" keeps going up? BTC is DOA because of its inherently deflationary properties. There will never be a consistently expanding BTC economy as hoarding makes more sense than actually spending it.

The people who like BTC for having a fixed cap on the amount of coins in existence are probably the same people who would like the gold standard back, because they don't understand the economic consequences.


Isn't Bitcoin's success as a currency orthogonal from the negative effects it might have on the economy? If individuals think holding Bitcoin is better for them than holding dollars, they will do it as long as it's legal.

As far as the economic effects, I think we'll be much better at managing a deflationary economy in 2030 than we were in 1930. We have more knowledge, better statistics, and better communication. At its core, the sticky wages problem is a communication problem.


Holding Bitcoin does not make it available for capital investment.

In this forum, I would expect that to be a significant issue.


In a world where Bitcoin has already been adopted by the masses, holding Bitcoin would make almost as little sense as holding dollars does today. Sure, its value will go up, but not as much as investing money in companies that make more money would.


Or because they have ASICs and a vault full of gold bars...


Uh, that's, like... How actual money works? /shrugs


>I suspect this may be what they want: to keep it basically worthless so people keep using it to tip people large amounts and have fun with it, and to drive away investors and people looking to profit.

Right and it is indeed a great sign that this drives out the hoarders. Makes for a much more healthy community.


Well on the other hand, this is actually good news for mining because you will always be able to mine. It means that they don't have to worry about incentivising "mining" after all the coins are gone.


It's 5% and declining, perhaps enough to keep up with population growth. Not the horror story you depict.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: