jdbtracker
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June 01, 2013, 09:59:35 AM Last edit: June 01, 2013, 11:23:08 AM by jdbtracker |
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That decimal point does something funny to the way the currency works.
There are 8.2 trillion U.S dollars in circulation 500 trillion Japanese yen 50 trillion Chinese Yuan
$8,200,000,000,000 USD ¥500,000,000,000,000 YEN ¥50,000,000,000,000 Yuan BTC11,500,000.000,000,00
As money gets moved through the system that value moves back and forth over that decimal point.
right now it is sitting at 130 USD per bitcoin.
That's 1.5 billion USD to move, it just goes two places back.
In japan its 13,200 yen, that's 151.8 trillion yen, three places behind the decimal point.
That limit of 21 million is creating a starting point for scarcity, it is the psychological starting point and to change that consensus now would be very difficult to create; It would make those holding it now super rich, increase liquidity of the coin and hence immediately devalueing it, people buying in would have problems depending on where they are from.
without that decimal point it becomes difficult to exchange between different currencies or use it meaningfully in economies with a different exchange rate, Consider that at an exchange different exchange rates will make it necessary to have more zeros past the decimal point, to transfer value accurately.
but it does create value due to the way people normally have encountered these currencies, they have never seen one that has so many decimal points, so will use it as normal without seeing the mechanism by which it works. In trying to get into the market, they speak in coins as the established marker of exchange limited because the majority of people are considering to use it that way. You'll have to convince someone to accept 120 dollars for a mBTC, a tough psychological barrier to break when you are in the minority to think that way.
having a total in circulation of 2.1 quadrilion at once, would make the value seem limitless, possibly making it always a 1 to 1 value exchange between it's benchmark the USD, but if that became the exchange medium it makes it hard to transfer directly to yen, you'll have to add one more step to complete the exchange.
The biggest currency, the yen, when entered into that amount can still be subdivided one more space back when all of it's currency is fully absorbed into bitcoin.
I believe the system is designed to effectively manage the differences between the amount of specific currencies in circulation and the value that they have independently of each other without adding or subtracting value due to rounding out a transaction from BTC to fiat.
If the creators had decided to use the yen and just think maybe they will print 4 times more bills in the future. 2.1 quadrillion and add .00 at the end, but what if the american dollar had prevailed? then certain amounts would be nontransferable with accuracy if the exchange rate between yen and dollars became too great.
You create a great upper limit for future money creation but the lower limit would be too shallow to account for extreme money fluctuations think of the zimbabwe dollar, anyone want a trillion dollar bill?
for something to exchange value properly it has to take these examples into account. and the current limit of 21 million is useful to create fluctuations in the currencies value through perceived scarcity, a sort of pressure valve measuring over all system pressure. if it had been 210 million the pressure to move in value wildly would be lessened.
I can already tell that bitcoin is not suitable for extreme economic movement. if Bitcoin absorbed the whole Japanese currency and you had to exchange 1 yen for Zimbabwe dollars there would be a lower limit as to how much of those dollars you could actually have. right now Bitcoin would handle well a trillion dollar economy with a exchange to a larger currency denomination like the yen and still have extra zeros for accounting purposes, percentages, taxes, exchange...
you got to remember the exchange rates go back to 5 places past the decimal point, adding my suspicion Satoshi only measured the largest currency amounts(yen) vs the USD( 5 decimal places plus 3 extra to compensate for future money printing.) Bitcoin can't handle exchange disparities of larger than 3 decimals.
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