100% Failure Rate

[wry]

The next time you see some jerkwad on the internet or TV being critical of Bitcoin just remember that the alternative they are usually such a fan of, government issued legal tender, has a 100% failure rate over time.  It does not matter if you look at antiquity at the debasement of Roman coinage or to today's self inflicted economic disasters such as Zimbabwe or Venezuela the answer is the same, the currency is always debased by the government, the only issue is to what degree.

I used to collect coins, that is old metal disks, if you look at a 1918 UK Shilling (1/20 of a £) it weighs 5.65 grams and is made of sterling silver (92.5%).  If you look at a 2018 5p coin, also 1/20th of a £, it is composed of 3.25 grams of nickel plated steel.

The world's reserve currency, the USD?  Down 97% versus gold since 1971, down 75% against the general price level.

Obviously Bitcoin is volatile and there is no way to know what the price will be tomorrow or in 30 years, but it will be hard to do much worse than national currencies.  Given that Bitcoin is fairly easy to use (unlike gold), though not without TX fees, it seems to me the project is worth having hope over.  Governments can still kill it, taxes in developed countries can really hurt it (e.g. in USA each use of Bitcoin, since it is a commodity, triggers a capital gains tax), so it wont be quick, but it seems like it has a good chance.

[greek137]

While you're right about the fact that most fiat currencies have lost the biggest percentage of their value, I think it's Bitcoin's volatility, as you've mentioned too, that keeps a lot of people out of crypto. There needs to be a war or an economic catastrophe for most currencies to lose a significant amount of value in a short amount of time, which is not the case for Bitcoin. Bitcoin can lose (or gain) a significant amount of value daily.