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