by Ram ben Ze'ev
Why would I sell something today that I purchased yesterday if I believe its value will increase tomorrow?
While there is a considerable amount of optimism regarding Bitcoin potentially becoming a global replacement for traditional currencies, the following analysis will demonstrate that this prospect is unlikely to materialize within your lifetime, if ever.
To determine the hypothetical value that each individual could share if all the Bitcoins were evenly distributed among the 8 billion people on Earth, you simply divide the total value by the number of people.
Taking today's price in Sterling into account, you start with the current price, which stands at £28,163.88 per coin and then multiply it by the total number of Bitcoins in circulation.
There are roughly 18.8 million Bitcoins in circulation, although the total cap is set at 21 million. To determine the exact number of Bitcoins in circulation today, you would need to consult up-to-date data. Assuming 18.8 million Bitcoins:
Total Value of Bitcoins = £28,163.88 multiplied by 18,800,000 = £530,702,944,000.
Now, to ascertain the potential share for each of the 8 billion people on Earth, you divide the total value of the circulating Bitcoins by the number of people. For the purposes of this analysis, I'll consider 8 billion people: £530,702,944,000 divided by 8,000,000,000 ≈ £66.34 each.
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Thus, based on the provided Bitcoin value and an assumption of 8 billion people, each individual could theoretically have access to approximately £66.34 worth of Bitcoin value. However, even this amount would not be adequate, especially for the most economically disadvantaged nations.
Although it may not meet everyone's expectations, to distribute £20,000 to each of the 8 billion people on Earth via Bitcoin, the price per Bitcoin would need to surpass £8,510,638,297.87, signifying an extraordinary increase of roughly 30,267,718 per cent.
I wouldn't hold my breath awaiting such a development in the near future.
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Bill White (Ram ben Ze'ev) is CEO of WireNews and Executive Director of Hebrew Synagogue