"In short: bitcoin can't be printed because it is automatically issued over time. The system can't be cheated because energy can't be copied. Proof-of-work can't be simulated, and the difficulty adjustment forbids the "farming" of blocks. Anyone can participate in, instantiate, and validate everything. Bitcoin is a digital item in a digital environment, brought about and kept alive by physical processes. It is the combination of the physical with the digital that gives Bitcoin its power: a digital commodity that can be sent around at the speed of light, inexorably linked to the physical laws of our universe. It is digital gold, not virtual gold. Virtual currencies like in-game currencies and fiat currencies are not scarce, because they require neither time nor energy to create. God-like entities can create them out of thin air. This is true even if money emerges naturally in a virtual arena, as was the case in Diablo II. As long as the arena is virtual, it can be controlled and shut down. The difference between central banks and game developers is one of quantity, not quality. Gold was sound money that emerged naturally in the physical world. It does not have the problem of a disappearing arena. Because for gold, the arena is the physical universe. Bitcoin is sound money that emerged naturally in the digital world. And as it continues to monetize, more and more people will understand that it too does not have the problem of a disappearing arena. For bitcoin, the arena is the mathematical universe. And as long as a single copy of the timechain remains intact, Bitcoin will survive. Gold's physicality is its biggest downside: it is a physical item in a physical environment. Consequently, you can neither store it in your head nor send it to others at the speed of light. Bitcoin fixes this. It is a digital commodity in a digital environment, brought about and protected by physical processes that can't be cheated. Bitcoin's proof-of-work reifies Bitcoin's blocks as well as the monetary units within them, and it is this reification of information that allows Bitcoin to transcend the mere virtual. But Bitcoin transcends more than just the virtual. It also transcends all other monies that came before it, by introducing something that cannot be improved upon further, something that did not and cannot exist in the physical world: absolute limitation via zero terminal inflation." 21 Million. Absolute scarcity. -Gigi Bitcoin is Digital Scarcity SNI