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Yesterday I had a conversation with a precoiner who was concerned that the bitcoin supply was too concentrated in the hands of a few people.

I explained that there is a trend toward distribution, but I think I should have asked her why the concentration bothered her in the first place.

If one person has a large portion of the bitcoin supply, they only have two main options:

-Lower their portion, by distributing the coins to others

-Keep holding, in which case the supply for everyone else is further restricted (it’s similar to if the coins were lost)

Maybe the concentration concern comes from a fiat/PoS mindset, that those with the most money can use their wealth to perpetually generate more money for themselves.

With PoW and a supply limit, this is no longer the case. To get more money, someone has to do work and provide value.

Perhaps it isn’t wealth inequality itself that bothers people, as much as it is the corrupted system surrounding it. And people have a hard time disassociating the two, because of the system we live in.

Trent Dudenhoeffer 2y ago

I’ve found most people in this position simply think it’s “unfair” that those hodlers will hold so much wealth down the line. They think coins should be distributed evenly with everyone starting at 0. Would be great in a perfect world but it just doesn’t work like that.

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Discussion

Tom Honzik 2y ago

That sounds like a method of Marxist redistribution. Are you sure it would be great, or describe a perfect world?

I think most people I talk to (including this woman) do not hold the belief that wealth inequality is inherently bad.

The only environment without wealth inequality would be one with wealth equality, and it's easy for most people to see the implications of why that would be a far worse situation.

Therefore, I think most of the people that are "bothered by wealth inequality" are actually bothered by the association of wealth inequality with a system where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer in perpetuity. Basically, PoS or the fiat system.

It's hard for them to imagine a situation where the rich do not become richer simply because they are rich to begin with, because that's the system they've always lived in.