<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">Mirco,</span><br></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">>> As I wrote to another fellow here on ExI, my concern for the long</span><br><span style="font-size: 12pt;">>> term is that even while Bitcoin is structured such that there is a</span><br><span style="font-size: 12pt;">>> maximum number of coins which can be mined, ensuring scarcity and</span><br><span style="font-size: 12pt;">>> thus in this respect making it similar to a precious
metal, there</span><br><span style="font-size: 12pt;">>> is no limit to the number of digital currencies which might compete</span><br><span style="font-size: 12pt;">>> with it. I know of at least six, including Litecoin which is said</span><br><span style="font-size: 12pt;">>> to be silver to Bitcoin's gold. But are digital currencies really</span><br><span style="font-size: 12pt;">>> analogous to precious metals? I rather doubt it. I can make a new</span><br><span style="font-size: 12pt;">>> digital currency but I cannot make a new precious metal.</span><br><br><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When I wrote those words above, I was alluding to the </span>possibility<span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> that although bitcoin is ingeniously structured to ensure scarcity of bitcoins over the long run, </span>analogous<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> to what nature has done for gold, the proliferation of
alternative digital currencies might nonetheless inflate the overall digital money supply into the indefinite future. </span></span><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Just as central banks can "print money" out of thin air, so too can anyone create a new bitcoin-like digital currency.</span><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;"> If am correct about this then </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">the scarcity of digital money is illusory and it loses an important advantage over ordinary fiat money. I would rather be incorrect. What is wrong with my thinking here?</span></div><div class="yui_3_7_2_18_1365118874979_62"><br></div><div class="yui_3_7_2_18_1365118874979_62">Gordon<br><br> </div> </div> </div></body></html>