Mining = Printing money Recently I got in a discussion with my brother over what bitcoin is and what mining is. He had never heard of it so I had to do my best to explain it all from the beginning. I had trouble explaining certain aspects of mining though. He only understood Bitcoin from the standpoint of it being disruptive and undermining or potentially destroying the US economy. He saw my actions of mining crypto currency as printing money at home and artificially inflating the US economy. I tried to explain that essentially it is the US economy and other fiat currencies that are the ones printing money and causing massive inflation and that Bitcoin in the long term does not suffer from that problem. I am having difficultly still though understanding the best way to explain to him where the money comes from when I mine, how it is different from printing money. Anyone else out there have a similar experience or know the best way to explain this?
Is mining gold creating money? It's called mining because work goes into it. The money that comes out of it is remuneration. When the FED increases (er, eases) money into our system it's done by adding a few digits to an account. There literally is no work that goes into that. I cannot make bitcoin with no work -- that's the primary differentiator. Gold and bitcoin have real work backing them. Understanding would be enhanced by a read through Bastiat's economic sophisms: https://mises.org/library/bastiat-collection . This book is also recommended: https://mises.org/library/mystery-banking