Bitcoin Standard

The Bitcoin Standard refers to a proposed monetary system where Bitcoin serves as the primary global reserve currency, replacing fiat currencies and traditional stores of value like gold.

What is Bitcoin Standard?

The Bitcoin Standard is a concept popularized by economist Saifedean Ammous in his 2018 book, The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking. It envisions Bitcoin as a global monetary standard due to its decentralized, scarce, and censorship-resistant properties, akin to the historical gold standard where currencies were backed by gold.

Unlike fiat currencies, which central banks can print without limit, Bitcoin has a fixed supply cap of 21 million coins, with approximately 19.75 million in circulation as of 2025, making it a deflationary asset. The standard argues that Bitcoin’s predictable issuance and its resistance to manipulation could stabilize economies, reduce inflation, and limit government overspending.

Proponents highlight Bitcoin’s advantages: it operates on a decentralized network secured by proof-of-work mining, requires no intermediaries, and enables peer-to-peer transactions globally. For example, Bitcoin processed $2.1 trillion in transaction volume in 2024, rivaling traditional payment networks like Visa.

Critics, however, argue that its volatility (e.g., 2021 peak of $69,000 vs. 2022 low of $16,500), slow transaction speed (~7 TPS), and energy consumption (~140 TWh annually) make it impractical as a global currency. The Bitcoin Standard remains a theoretical framework, with adoption limited to niche cases like El Salvador’s 2021 legal tender law.