Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of bitcoin, described his creation for the first time on Halloween (31 October), 2008. He wrote, “I’ve been working on a new electronic cash system that’s fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party,” and linked to the whitepaper.
Bitcoin is the declared legal tender of two nations: El Salvador and the Central African Republic. The notional market capitalization is $610B (AUD). Over 300 EH/s of computing power secures the network. 6.25 BTC is awarded with each new block. On this basis, supply inflation is 1.7%. Issuance of new bitcoin will be reduced by 50% in 18 months to 3.13 BTC/block. Lightning network liquidity exceeds 5,000 BTC. More statistics are available at BiTBO.
The supply schedule for bitcoin is inflexible and ultimately capped at 21 million units. This contrasts with the Aussie dollar for which supply fluctuates according to edict, cannot be easily audited and has no absolute cap on supply. The Reserve Bank of Australia will announce its interest rate target later today. Analysts have tipped a relatively modest 25 basis point rise, to 2.85%, on the path to a peak of 3.9% next year.
Despite interest rate increases, price inflation is still a challenge in Australia. Third quarter inflation here was calculated at 7.3% (year-on-year) by the Bureau of Statistics. This is the highest rate in 30 years.
