Can Bitcoin's Price Ever Be Stable?

Even in bitcoin's digital universe, the same basic economic rules apply, with price being determined by supply and demand.

"People do care about price, so stabilising price is more important, and that requires having the supply be adjustable based on price via some metric," he continued.

Centralised monetary policies go against everything that Satoshi's original concept for bitcoin stood for.

Improved Bitcoin, the proposal from the Institute of Economic Research at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, pegs the price of cryptocurrency to the US dollar, but then uses the reward given to bitcoin miners as a way of adjusting the supply of coins.

"In my paper, that channel is the seigniorage shares," said Sams, whose theory for stabilising bitcoin price would see two kinds of token.

We'll just get the core devs to code it into the protocol, shall we? Not so fast, said Sams, who argues that there's no support for such a fundamental change to the bitcoin technology.

Erin goes so far as saying that bitcoin will never move beyond its current phase as a speculative currency, hoarded by those hoping for a 'to the moon' ending, because an asset will never be stable without variable supply.

If Buterin is right, and flexible supply is the only answer to volatility, then bitcoin will be stuck in a hoard-and-wait cycle forever.

If Lee is right, then there's a future for bitcoin as a cryptocurrency that prioritises transaction over investment.

What do you think? Should people be lobbying for a new, stable coin with flexible supply? Or should the bitcoin community simply try to grow its way out of the problem?