Hi, I am a noob to all this bitcoin stuffs. It sounds like an interesting idea but before I invest too much into it I have
some questions and concerns. Perhaps highest on my list of concerns is the possibility that someone will buy up all,
or most, of all the bitcoins that exist.
It is practically impossible to buy up all the Bitcoins that exist. As they are purchased, the price rises exponentially. Imagine how much this mysterious buyer would need to pay for the last Bitcoin still available? Who would sell it, and at what price? If there were only a few coins left, the price would be several millions of dollars, and people would simply use the fractions of a coin in the same way they today use a full coin. Furthermore, if someone attempted to do this, it would not harm anybody, and conversely the amount of resources that would be poured into Bitcoin would be immense! Every one of us who owns any coins at all would be rich, and would have the ability to start and fund new ventures.
I can think of nothing that would accelerate the strength, power, and development of Bitcoin more than "someone trying to buy all the coins."
Will it be just like the existing economic system where the rich get richer on the backs of the poor?
Will that not destroy the whole bitcoin project and make whatever bitcoins I happen to get myself worthless?
The rich typically "get richer" because they earn money by providing things people want. This is also how the poor "get richer." Those crooks who get richer via the coercive power of government intervention or through fraud will not be benefited by a monetary system that removes this coercive power. Wealth is necessarily MORE merit based in a Bitcoin free market than in a fiat centrally-planned and controlled market, because those avenues to achieve wealth through anything other than merit are reduced through Bitcoin. To be sure, a more merit-based system may lead to greater wealth inequality... but so what. Every man has the right to that which he earns.
The "distribution" of Bitcoins is meaningless - it is the manner by which one is able to acquire them which is important. One can acquire dollars through government force. One cannot acquire Bitcoins in that same manner. This is why Bitcoin is fundamentally "fair," no matter who's rich and who's poor, and why fiat currencies like the USD inevitably lead to wealth distribution that is fundamentally "unfair."
indeed, hard to add to this post. As the market matures and becomes larger the volatility will decrease, but as stated here, if there was a huge buy up 1) it would require people willing to and actively selling their holdings and 2) the price would skyrocket limiting the amount that would likely be sold. The incentive structure of these cryptocurrencies would only mean that anyone attempting to do so would risk their own wealth to the point where it is not worth it.