Question: There are only 21 million bitcoins, but there are over 7 billion people on planet Earth. How could Bitcoin supply the world economy with money?

Saifedean Ammous: It’s not a problem; the supply of money does not matter. What matters is the purchasing power of money. You can fit infinite amounts of purchasing power into each Bitcoin. Each Bitcoin is divisible into 100 million satoshis, and Bitcoin solves this problem in the same way it scales. This is what we like to call “the number-go-up technology.”

As the price of Bitcoin rises, the volume of Bitcoin traded rises, the amount of money Bitcoin holds rises, and the value of each satoshi rises, making it a bigger market. You don’t need more money; you don’t need inflation; you don’t need the supply of money to increase.

Question: So let’s say 1 Bitcoin hits $100,000—how will a person making $15 an hour afford a whole Bitcoin?

Saifedean Ammous: You don’t need a whole Bitcoin. The vast majority of people will not own a full one. Much like a dollar is divided into 100 pennies, a Bitcoin is made up of 100 million satoshis. In the future, it will be almost unheard of for someone to own a full Bitcoin. Think about a 400-ounce gold bar—that’s what one Bitcoin is like. But just as you don’t have to own a whole gold bar to use gold, you can own a small portion, like a tiny gold coin.