The illusion you keep failing to see is that fiat is not a free market. Never was. Monero can’t be since its infinite supply is debasing holders via tail emission policy (just at a slow rate). You can literally see this happening in real time in the BTC/XMR all time charts. A hard cap is the first mover advantage for bitcoin because by fixing it, there is no altering the SUPPLY. Satoshi did this deliberately as a response to fiat debasement that has occurred over and over again throughout history. A hard cap is more true to a free market than any system in history. End of story. It’s the equivalent of the discovery of zero but for economics. If the money itself is not fixed, then the economy is at the mercy of central planners, dev teams (like the case for Zcash and alts) or predetermined inflation (as in the case of Monero). If you alter supply or let it grow indefinitely then you get the cantillion effect (those closest to the printer get money first before debasement). In modern fiat these people are primary dealers and central banks. In Monero they are miners lol In bitcoin, there is No cantillion effect. Just true supply (21million) and demand (conviction in early adoption, then later the actual pricing of goods and services based on perceived value). The “security” argument is non sequitur as well because, btc has the strongest decentralized node network. You’ll see this in action soon with bip110. Security is fortified with honest nodes and not miners. No inflation tax needed lol

this post does NOTHING to answer my question about why a hard cap makes a market "more true to a free market." this is just regurgitated maximalism. your cantillion effect argument is not applicable. Monero produces 0.6 XMR block reward. that isn't a cantillion effect any more than it is with Bitcoin. sorry to break it to you, but miners are robbing you of your purchasing power every 10 minutes. that's cantillion effect if it's Monero but not if it's Bitcoin apparently 🤨 and you're obviously VERY confused about miners and network security. Good luck securing the network with lots of nodes and little hash, I hope betting on transaction fees being able to secure the network works out.

> end of story Sounds like you dont actually want to have a conversation about that. The canillion effect applies to all miners. Even with a fixed supply, the slow "deflation" of paying fees gets priced in continuously in the form of knowing you've got to pay fees, akin to people looking at prices and adding the sales tax in their head when calculating cost, and that cost is profit to miners. It has the same impact. A fixed supply dooms bitcoin to collapse because hodlers are free riders on the cost of security and this is subsidized by users. You see the beginnings of this already with the "store of value" argument.

If nothing sticks maxis pull out the XMR/BTC chart that is nothing more than a relative measurement vs USD. This conversation is way out of his league. I'd bet he converted to the Bitcoin maxi school of thought in one of the last bubbles now defending what was once meant to make him fiat rich quick.