Financial Fiction Friday #10

Bitcoin maximalists trip over themselves to tell you how much better Bitcoin could be for the world if only people just believed. Obviously, nothing says inclusiveness like shouting down criticism and doxxing potential opponents online.

But let's look past the best and brightest trolls of the crypto-revolution and look at the numbers. Time described a recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research that found Bitcoin is incredibly concentrated. The largest 10,000 individual owners control roughly 1/3 of the total supply and the top 10% of miners control 90% of the mining capacity.

This doesn't sound like the most inclusive monetary system in history. In fact, it mirrors our current global system where the top 10% own ~85% of all global wealth (but actually a little worse - see below).