Bitcoin is the hardest money ever to exist.
First, Bitcoin is finite, with a hard limit of 2.1 quadrillion satoshis. Over 90% of these are already in circulation, with the remainder to be issued in accordance with pre-defined parameters between now and around 2140. No more will be created above this hard limit. The circulating amount of gold, probably the hardest of all previous moneys, will likely quintuple over the same period.
Second, Bitcoin is the world’s most reliable computer network. Since a bug was found and fixed in 2013, the system has not been down for even a fraction of second. Bitcoin uptime is all the time. No other large network comes close to this level of reliability.
Third, Bitcoin is immutable. Because the ledger is not controlled by anyone, it cannot be retrospectively altered or censored. Once a transaction has been confirmed by the network’s nodes, it is set in digital stone forever.
Fourth, because it is sufficiently distributed and decentralized – everywhere and nowhere – Bitcoin is highly resistant to attack, whether physical, virtual or political. And despite being worth hundreds of billions of dollars for much of its lifetime, since the 2013 bug there have been zero successful hacks of the Bitcoin ledger itself. As such, the possibility of cyber-thieves stealing valid bitcoins or creating counterfeit ones looks remote.
Much of this hardness depends on the stability of fixed rules in Bitcoin’s code. Unlike with many of its imitators, change to Bitcoin code is slow, incremental and backwards compatible (i.e. nodes running old software versions still work). But most crucially, fundamental change is controlled by users rather than miners, businesses, councils or foundations. All attempts to change Bitcoin’s core parameters, such as issuance schedule and block size, have failed. Even a cartel with most of the mining power was unsuccessful when it tried in 2017.
Bitcoin is finite, reliable, immutable, attack resistant and stable.
Bitcoin is bloody hard.