by mosho

Bitcoin was introduced as “a peer-to-peer electronic cash system” — money for everyone, without trusted third parties. Seventeen years later, an honest observation: BTC is increasingly accumulated as a reserve asset by governments, ETFs, and corporations, while its use for everyday purchases keeps shrinking.

This looks like Gresham’s law in action: deflationary money gets hoarded, while depreciating fiat gets spent. Nobody wants to spend an asset that might be worth ten times more tomorrow. But there is a deeper problem: a currency is a roof over daily life, and no one can live even a second under a roof whose walls have no stability. When value swings wildly, the common person cannot plan, save, or trade with confidence. A roof that shakes is not shelter — it is a risk.

The fixed 21M supply — Bitcoin’s greatest strength — may also be the mechanism that steadily prices out the common person and concentrates holdings among the wealthy and the powerful. Today, elites rule over ordinary people with the help of money. If current trends continue, tomorrow BTC itself will be under the elites — the same hierarchy, only with a new instrument.

...read more at delvingbitcoin.org