Not everyone is excited about hyperbitcoinization.
According
to a popular copy/paste meme, Bitcoin holders are set to become a
neo-aristocracy as Bitcoin becomes the dominant world currency:
The meme is part of a larger vision for Bitcoin’s future, a
semi-serious but mostly tongue-in-cheek narrative that can be lumped
under the “Bitcoin Citadels” umbrella: a vision of the future in which
Bitcoin becomes so valuable that hodlers become lords quite literally
defending their coins in castles.
Originating from a Reddit post
written by someone claiming to be a time traveler (they called for a $1
million price target in 2021, if you’re curious), the Citadel meme has
taken on a life of its own, even inspiring a short film.
But
despite the self-evident farce and fantasy behind the meme, one
economist is now warning that it might not be far off from reality
should Bitcoin succeed in its mission to achieve monetary supremacy.
On
the think tank Center for Economic Policy and Research’s website,
academic Jon Danielsson of the London School of Economics wrote an
article yesterday in which he envisions a future where “Bitcoin aristocrats” will “fuel social division and populism” through extreme wealth inequality:
“To
begin with, the current owners of bitcoin will become the wealthiest
people in the world, rivalling the kings and emperors that ruled over
empires in centuries past. They literally will own all the money. They
can buy anything they want. There aren't that many of them. Compared to
the multitudes that own assets today via all the pension funds and
mutual funds and the rest, it is a tiny group of people.”
The
government would be forced to “protect or attack” this new class of
overlords, ones who attained their “rank just by buying early. They will
make no contribution to society.”
Gloom and grumpiness aside,
Danielsson ultimately concludes that such a future “cannot” come to pass
because Bitcoin is unsuitable as a unit of account due to its price
instability. Because of these “internal contradictions,” Danielsson
writes, “the price of Bitcoin will head to zero.”
Economic
analysis that comes to the same conclusions as time-traveling Redditors
aside, not everyone is as grim about a hyperbitcoinized world. In fact,
in many cases it has proven to be a boon for countries struggling under inflation.
source link : https://cointelegraph.com/news/economist-warns-of-dystopia-if-bitcoin-aristocrats-become-reality
