"There is no example in nature or any engineering where a leak is required for the system to work efficiently. In virtually all cases, any such leak is fatal."
— Michael Saylor
How long until your money loses half its value?
How fast is your dollar dying?
"Half-life" is the time it takes for your money to lose half of its purchasing power. The answer depends on the true rate of inflation — not the government's carefully curated CPI figure, but the actual erosion in purchasing power you experience when buying groceries, housing, healthcare, and education.
What is the true rate of inflation?
CPI is the government's own figure. Shadow Stats uses pre-1980 methodology. True Asset includes housing, healthcare, and education.
Your $100 becomes equivalent to $50 in…
8.3
years
At the Shadow Stats rate, the dollar's half-life has compressed from ~20 years to ~8 years. The leak is accelerating.
Not all money leaks in the same way
Every money has some form of supply expansion (though technically, in bitcoin's case it is more accurately described as issuance or perhaps emission). But the nature of that expansion — who benefits, why it happens, and whether it can ever stop — is what separates sound money from broken money.
U.S. Dollar
Seigniorage
Unlimited supply expansion
Supply expanded at will by the state
No limit, no schedule, no consent
Silent transfer of purchasing power from people to government
Taxation without legislation
Arguably unconstitutional - no explicit constitutional authority for fiat currency
No longer backed by or redeemable for gold since 1971
Monetary debasement (theft) is required for the credit-based economy to function
Total supply is both unknown and unknowable
Beneficiary → The government
Half-life trending → zero
Gold
Mining
~2% per year, perpetual
New supply accrues to miners who did real physical work
More benign than fiat, but a perpetual, constant leak
Supply responds to price: higher gold price → more mining
Supply increase can never reach zero
Total supply is unknown and unknowable
Beneficiary → Miners (real work)
Half-life ≈ 35 years, constant
Bitcoin
Issuance → Zero
Pre-defined, issuance rate halves every ~4 years, terminal
Supply issuance is pre-programmed, decreasing, and terminal
>95% of Bitcoin's supply has already been mined
Will reach exactly 21 million (in the year ~2140) — zero supply response to fiat price/exchange-rate
Anyone can participate in mining, even from home
No gatekeepers, no privileged access
Bitcoin's total supply cap is certain, for eternity. Practically, its supply will decrease due to attrition (e.g people losing their keys).
Structurally, Bitcoin's half life becomes infinity; a first in human civilization
The critical distinction: Fiat inflation is not some unfortunate event beyond anyone's control, like the weather. It is an intentional, structural mechanism — the silent transfer of economic energy from the people who earned it to the government (who printed it out of thin air - no "work" involved). With gold and Bitcoin, any new supply goes to those who did the work. With fiat, it goes to those who hold the printing press; every dollar they print is a dollar stolen from all existing holders of dollars, including you.
The Leak
The U.S. dollar has lost over 95% of its purchasing power since 1900. This isn't misfortune or accident — it's the structural consequence of a monetary system designed to expand. Every dollar printed dilutes the value of every dollar already in your pocket. This is not a bug. It is the mechanism by which governments fund themselves without raising taxes.
The story of this erosion follows a clear pattern: each institutional shift removed a constraint on money creation, and each removal accelerated the leak.
1900 — 1912
The Classical Gold Standard
The dollar was legally defined as 0.04838 troy ounces of gold, fixed at $20.67/oz. Prices mean-reverted over decades — the cost of flour, steak, and eggs barely changed from the mid-19th century through 1912. Money didn't leak.
Price level essentially unchanged for 50+ years
1913
Birth of the Federal Reserve
The Federal Reserve Act introduced "elastic currency" — the ability to expand money supply on demand. The historic trade-off: higher average inflation in exchange for lower volatility. The CPI doubled from 9.9 to 20.0 in just seven years. The leak began.
Prices doubled in 7 years
1933 — 1934
Executive Order 6102
Private gold ownership outlawed. Gold repriced from $20.67 to $35.00/oz — a 41% devaluation of the dollar's gold content. Citizens were forced to exchange their gold for paper. The government severed the individual's direct relationship with sound money.
41% devaluation overnight
1971
The Nixon Shock
The final constraint removed. Dollar convertibility to gold suspended — ostensibly "temporarily." The dollar became pure fiat: backed by nothing but government decree. The Federal Reserve gained unconstrained ability to expand the money supply. The leak became a flood.
wtfhappenedin1971.com
2008 — Present
Quantitative Easing & Beyond
Bank bailouts, pandemic stimulus, 21.4% cumulative inflation in just four years (2020–2024). Gold reached $5,598/oz by January 2026. The acceleration is unmistakable — and it isn't slowing down.
21.4% cumulative inflation, 2020–2024
What $10 Used to Buy
In 1900, $10 could feed a household for four weeks:
$10 → $382
4 boxes of corn flakes, 3 lbs of oysters, 5 lbs of ribeye steak, 10 lbs of chicken breast, 3 loaves of bread, 3 jars of jam, 6 dozen eggs, 4 lbs of ham, and 7 rolls of breakfast sausage.
Today you would need $382 for the same groceries. That's not a free market at work — it's a 125-year transfer of purchasing power from citizens to the state.
Not All Leaks Are the Same
Every money has some form of supply expansion. But the nature of that expansion — who benefits, why it happens, and whether it can be controlled — makes all the difference.
U.S. Dollar
Seigniorage
Supply expanded at will by the state. No limit, no schedule, no consent. The "leak" is a silent transfer of purchasing power from the people to the government — taxation without legislation.
Beneficiary → The government / issuer
Gold
Mining
Supply expands ~2% per year through physical mining. The new supply accrues to miners who did real work — more benign, but still a perpetual, constant expansion that can never reach zero.
Beneficiary → Miners (real work)
Bitcoin
Emission (→ Zero)
Supply expansion is pre-defined, decreasing, and terminal. Halving every ~4 years until reaching 21 million. New supply accrues to miners doing real work — and anyone can participate, even from home.
Beneficiary → Miners (open participation)
The critical distinction: Fiat inflation is not an unfortunate event beyond anyone's control, like the weather. It is an intentional, structural mechanism — the silent transfer of economic energy from the people who earned it to the government. With gold and Bitcoin, any new supply goes to those who did the work. With fiat, it goes to those who hold the printing press.
The Takeaway
⏳
Fiat: Half-Life → Zero
The dollar's half-life is compressing. What took decades to halve now takes years. The leak isn't just persistent — it's accelerating. Every "emergency" adds more dollars, every crisis shortens the runway. The purchasing power decay of fiat currency is not cyclical. It is terminal.
USD purchasing power: −95% since 1900
♾
Bitcoin: Half-Life → Infinity
Bitcoin's supply issuance, already 95% complete, asymptotically approaches zero , pre-defined. Its half-life trends toward infinity — the first money in human history with this property. Its purchasing power gains are not speculation or luck. They are structural: the predictable consequence of absolute scarcity meeting growing recognition, understanding and adoption.
21,000,000 — forever. No exceptions.
A note on mining: Both gold and Bitcoin have supply expansion through mining — new units accruing to those who did real physical or computational-brute-force work. But there's a crucial difference. Gold mining is perpetual: ~2% per year, forever, with supply responding to price increases. Bitcoin's terminal supply is fixed: the issuance rate halves every four years and will reach zero in the year ~2140. Furthermore, Bitcoin mining is radically open — anyone can participate, even from home, with modest equipment. There is no government involvement, no privileged access, no gatekeepers. The remaining supply goes to participants in an open, global, permissionless network.