> being deflationary predictably is better than unpredictably inflationary.
Unpredictable deflation is what bitcoin does, and with a fixed policy it can never do anything else. The amount of wealth generated by an economy grows in an unpredictable manner, and fixed monetary policy translates that fluctuation directly into the value of the currency. We learned this with metal currency. It didn’t go well.
Did we? The history of monetary policy crisis were not related to the metal as much as to the instability of banking. Bitcoin cant go broke like a bank can.
You can still have crises that aren't banking-related. When the New World was conquered, the mountains of silver and gold flowing back to Spain in particular caused inflation, no bankers involved.
I'm not sure if there's a direct equivalent for Bitcoin. My first thought is that there are probably a few large stashes of coins that the market assumes are "out of circulation" and priced accordingly.
Its true the metal created inflation, but I assure you it created less inflation issues that any paper ever, and could never create hyperinflation as we know it unless it rained gold or something.
Im unaware of big crisis stemming from that inflation, although I find it very amusing when Adam Smith or Ricardo talk about it without having the word in their arsenal. I loved knowing they were trying to define inflation without knowing what it was.
Unpredictable deflation is what bitcoin does, and with a fixed policy it can never do anything else. The amount of wealth generated by an economy grows in an unpredictable manner, and fixed monetary policy translates that fluctuation directly into the value of the currency. We learned this with metal currency. It didn’t go well.