Bitcoin is now synthetically created, through options, derivatives, & ETF. Does that mean it’s endless, just like all the US dollars?

Photo above - Congress purchased Alaska for $7 million on October 18, 1867. Next day this happened - pioneers showed up for the Yukon gold rush . . .

Legend has it that Satoshi Nakamoto (creator of the Bitcoin universe) decreed there can only be 21 million bitcoins ever, until the end of time. Stop laughing – people actually believe this. It underpins the entire idea that Bitcoin is valuable and could be worth $100,000 each or $1 million each. Or worth whatever someone wakes up tomorrow and decides for themselves.

Just 21 million? Not so fast. Yahoo Personal Finance (link below, seldom known for deep insights into money) has come to a startling and simple conclusion: We – the holders and traders of Bitcoin – can make the supply infinite. We are creating new “synthetic” Bitcoins with all the usual Wall Street approved chicanery: Bitcoin exchange trade funds, futures, swaps, derivatives. And the big enchilada – cryptocurrency banks which keep your Bitcoin in a "safe" wallet while lending Bitcoin to somebody else doesn't have any. This what banks do with your checking and savings accounts, which creates "synthetic dollars", too.

Are your eyes glazing over yet?

The amount of US dollars roaming the world in the wild at any given moment is a matter of debate. But it’s huge, and it’s always growing. Because of the american government keeps printing more, issuing treasury bills and all of the clever Wall Street hustles noted. Nobody pretends the US dollar is in any way fixed in quantity. Dollar Inflation seems to be INFINITE. Reality check: America bought Alaska for just $7 million. Don’t try and figure out what it’s worth using one of those ridiculous online “inflation calculators”. They say it’s just $140 million, and they are hysterically wrong. Even without the buildings, roads and ports – just the land alone – Alaska is worth $3.5 TRILLION ($8,375 avg per acre, multiplied by 425 million acres).

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong (COIN, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, market cap $50 billion +/-) is desperate to get the 2026 Clarity bill passed. This is understandable - he helped write it. And Mr. Armstrong has said he’d rather have no bill at all, rather than “a bad one”. The Clarity bill exempts Bitcoin (and every other crypto currency) from regulation like stocks.

Just imagine the gazillions of synthetic Bitcoins that will come pouring out these companies if they get their way. That could make the US dollar look like the safest bet.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

Bitcoin's 'Infinite' Paper Supply — Not Wall Street — Is The Real Problem, Says Analyst

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoins-infinite-paper-supply-not-203126798.html

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whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M

Bitcoin is an anomaly of the modern age. I have no doubt there will be papers written on it in the future, in a similar vein to the Dutch tulip bubble. Bitcoin has two discrete parts. The means of exchange, where it is like any other currency. And the means of transmission and storage, where it conceals identity of the previous and current owner.. In time, parts of that second function, the block chain technology will no doubt find lasting function. But the Bitcoin value will collapse in time. It has nothing to anchor it.. And if the rise and fall of so many currencies where the underlying value was weakened has taught us anything, it is that what goes around, comes around..😷

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@whowasthatmaskedman good reply. my nuances. . . .

bitcoin was originally conceived of as a "means of monetary exchange". except it was unweildy and required too much expense tech to transfer payments. as opposed to paying online or writing a check. no merchants signed up for bitcoin.

Satoshi should be happy that through some weird accident of fate people decided to hoard something that was almost impossible to spend. without the hoarding, we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

there are more than 10,000 other crypto currencies. only 1 (Ethereum) has any hoard activity. the rest of them are worth less than a penny, and their owner/operators generate thousands of spam pieces a day urging people to buy them.

my niece took them up. she's convinced some or all of them will eventually trace the success of bitcoin.

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ArishMell · 70-79, M

Worringly, that looks like a wide, straight, level road to an enormous crash, for both the real American currency and the pseudo-currency of Bitcoin and its ilk.

It is relatively easy to control physical money - print less - and an economy based on that; but who knows where the digital ones will go if left uncontrolled?

It looks like one giant pyramid-fraud where the proprietors make vast sums before the value slumps and bankrupts the investors.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@ArishMell money isn't controlled by printing less. the treasury department and other forms of government debt are a form of greenbacks

wildbill83 · 41-45, M

"is now"? wasn't it always?

I've yet to see any evidence proving that it isn't just a big pyramid scheme... 🤔

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@wildbill83 someone will point out that "you can't prove a negative".

i'm only asking basic questions:

1 - who is satoshi nakamoto, and is he even a real person?

2 - what happens when all 21 bitcoin are minted?

3 - why are dozens of cororations desperate to keep bitcoin almost completely unregulated, and the currency of choice for ransoms, extortion, etc?

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@SusanInFlorida I wondered who, as well. A few moments' digging found that Satoshi Nakamoto is probably a pseudonym for the Bitcoin's inventor whose real identity is uncertain. Some suspect he is a British, not Japanese, software developer; and now sits on a huge wodge of this "currency".

The name? I found several translation attempts to translate it. Satoshi appears to mean "wise" or "clear thinking"; Nakamoto is a common Japanese surname of no special meaning.

The name order is incorrect, too. Asian culture uses family-individual name order but Japan had adopted the Western practice of given-family names in documents written in the Latin alphabet. The Japanese government has now decreed using the original order, so he is Nakamoto Satoshi, as normal.

However we are still in the dark as to who really invented Bitcoin and made a fortune from it.

I think you've answered the second part of Q3! Unregulated, poorly-watched, so a gift to the criminals.

Really I think all of these of these false currencies need wiping out.

(BTW, 'Bitcoin' is a specific brand, not generic term.)

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@ArishMell i'm not for arbitrarily wiping out exotic financial investments. just disclosing/regulating them on the same basis of their more orthodox competitors.

some crypto newsletter admitted over the weekend that 90% of their content was paid "slop" from crypto issues, and in no way objective, or even verifiable. the stuff mostly says "buy now before its too late"

Khenpal1 · M

World is about to diversify from USA dollar as a whole , its not about replacement.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@Khenpal1 i'll never say never. but it's already diversified. the eurodollar is solidly in second place.

the odds of the chinese yuan or russian ruble being a world reserve currency are small.

Khenpal1 · M

@SusanInFlorida I think times with reserve currency is over.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@Khenpal1 i used to think this too. until i tried to a deep dive on international trade: oil contracts, ore, etc.

if you can't set a reliable price (paid upon delivery) in a reliable currency, your risk level in cross border trade is intensified by an order of magnitude.

i'm still struggling with a way to simplify this for one of my daily columns, and provide an answer which people will object to.

Zonuss · 46-50, M

It's a scam.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@Zonuss agreed. the exact term is "ponzi scheme". nobody in congress has read any of the crypto bills they are debating. they just look at the corporate campaign contributions.

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