Subject: Re: [bitcoin-dev] Surprisingly, Tail Emission Is Not Inflationary

From: Alfred Hodler <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2022 14:06:29 +0000

Rather than get bogged down discussing the technical details of how such a change could even take place, I'll go ahead and say that modifying the 21M cap is a supremely reckless idea. Your mathematical proof aside, the idea rests on the unprovable premise that people will keep losing coins indefinitely. You could also argue that once Bitcoin is valuable or widespread enough, it'll incentivize the creation of superior storage, custody and inheritance solutions. One could also write a bunch of "proofs" to support that, but it doesn't mean much when the core idea remains purely in the hypothetical sphere.

One of Bitcoin's value propositions is having a fixed supply cap with a predictable issuance curve. People bought into Bitcoin because it promises to NOT be fiat and because it promises NOT to do what central banks are doing. The moment you start messing with that, it'll invite people to try to tinker with the protocol whenever "security" concerns demand it. Once a powerful enough adversary sees that Overton window moving, they'll probably throw everything they have at this particular weakness in an attempt to subvert the protocol further.

Alfred