@CarlBLatro @alex If you include the entire life of Bitcoin, yes, it's zero-sum. Miners can even withdraw money without having to put any in. Assuming Bitcoin has an end and that one day it will be over and not worth anything (nobody wants to accept it in trade for anything else), some people somewhere will have purchased bitcoins but never be able to cash out. For all the speculative gains while it goes up, there will be equivalent speculative losses while it goes down.

OTOH, if Bitcoin goes on (and up in net) forever, those losses will never happen. It's inherently deflationary in the long term, so it's possible.

Most likely it will be effectively banned by all major countries by the end of the century, under penalty of being drugged and beaten with a $9 wrench until you give up your keys. Unfortunately.