Compared with legal tender, Bitcoin has no centralized issuer, but is generated through the calculation of network nodes. Anyone can participate in the manufacture of bitcoin, which can be circulated all over the world. It can be bought and sold on any networked computer. No matter where you are, anyone can mine, buy, sell or collect bitcoin, and foreigners can't identify the user identity information during the transaction. In 2009, Bitcoin, which is not controlled by the central bank or any financial institution, was born. Bitcoin is an "electronic currency", which consists of a series of complex codes generated by computers. The new bitcoin is made by a preset program. With the increase of the total amount of bitcoins, the speed of making new coins slowed down, until 2654.38+040 reached the upper limit of 2 1 10,000, and the total amount of bitcoins dug up had exceeded 6,543.8+0.2 million.
Whenever Bitcoin enters the mainstream media's field of vision, the mainstream media always invites some mainstream economists to analyze Bitcoin. Previously, these analyses always focused on whether Bitcoin was a scam. The current analysis always focuses on whether Bitcoin can become the mainstream currency in the future. The focus of this debate often focuses on the deflationary characteristics of Bitcoin.
Many bitcoin players are attracted by the fact that bitcoin cannot be issued at will. Contrary to the attitude of bitcoin players, economists hold a polarized attitude towards the fixed amount of 2 1 10,000 bitcoin.
Keynesian economists believe that the government should actively regulate the total amount of money and use the tightness of monetary policy to refuel or brake the economy at an appropriate time. Therefore, they believe that bitcoin's fixed monetary aggregate sacrifices controllability, and worse, it will inevitably lead to deflation, thus hurting the overall economy. Economists of the Austrian school hold the opposite view. They think that the less government intervention in the currency, the better. Deflation caused by fixed monetary aggregate is not a major event, even a sign of social progress.
Bitcoin network generates new bitcoins by "mining". The so-called "mining" is essentially to solve a complex mathematical problem with a computer to ensure the consistency of the distributed accounting system of Bitcoin network. Bitcoin network will automatically adjust the difficulty of mathematical problems, so that the whole network can get a qualified answer every 10 minute. Then the bitcoin network will generate a certain amount of bitcoin as a reward to reward the person who gets the answer.
When Bitcoin was born in 2009, each prize was 50 bitcoins. After the birth of 10 minutes, the first batch of 50 bitcoins were produced, and the total amount of money at this time was 50. Subsequently, the number of bitcoins increased by about 50 per 10 minute. When the total amount reaches 6.5438+005 million (50% of 26.5438+000 million), the reward will be halved to 25. When the total amount reaches15.75 million (the new output is 5.25 million, that is, 50% of 1050), the reward will be halved to 12.5.
First of all, according to its design principle, the total amount of bitcoin will continue to grow until it reaches 2 1 10,000 years later. However, the growth rate of the total amount of bitcoin money will be very slow in the later period. In fact, 87.5% of Bitcoin will be "dug up" in the first 12 years. Therefore, from the perspective of the total amount of money, Bitcoin will not reach a fixed amount. In essence, its total amount of money will continue to expand, although the speed is getting slower and slower. So it seems that Bitcoin is an inflationary currency.
But judging deflation or inflation is not based on whether the total amount of money is decreasing or increasing, but on whether the overall price level is decreasing or increasing. The overall price increase is inflation, and vice versa is deflation. In the long run, the issuing mechanism of Bitcoin determines that the growth rate of its total currency will be much lower than the growth rate of social wealth.
Keynesian economists believe that falling prices will make people tend to delay consumption because the same dollar can buy more things tomorrow. The reduction of consumption will further lead to shrinking demand, unsalable goods, lower prices and a vicious circle of "deflation spiral". Similarly, deflationary money can appreciate even if it is not deposited in the bank itself (purchasing power is getting stronger and stronger), people's willingness to invest will also increase, and social production will fall into a downturn. [5]? Therefore, Bitcoin is a currency with a deflationary tendency. In the bitcoin economy, the prices of goods priced with bitcoin will continue to fall.
Bitcoin is a kind of online virtual currency with limited quantity, but it can be used to cash out: it can be converted into the currencies of most countries. You can use bitcoin to buy some virtual items, such as clothes, hats and equipment in online games. As long as someone accepts it, you can also use Bitcoin to buy real-life items.