[Cryptography] Montana: A Post-Quantum Blockchain with Time as Scarcity

Bill Woodcock woody at pch.net
Tue May 19 17:36:15 EDT 2026



> On May 19, 2026, at 20:40, Ron Garret <ron at flownet.com> wrote:
> This is the fundamental problem with all extant cryptocurrencies: they all control the money supply algorithmically.  But money is a commodity like any other, except that to serve its intended function as a medium of exchange it has to have a stable price relative to some actual goods or services.  The only way to accomplish that is to control the money supply in such a way that it can respond to actual demand, which is to say, to actual economic activity.  But there is no extant crypto currency with a mechanism for this.  They all control the money supply algorithmically, which inevitably leads to disconnects between supply and economic activity

I always thought a rational cryptocurrency would utilize mandatory recording of transactions to a blockchain to determine how much demand there was for new currency relative to the existing amount of currency in circulation, and mint additional currency as-needed to ensure that the currency supply stayed stable relative to demand, and inflation remained a predictable constant.  Of course, that also requires buy-back in the event that a currency declines in popularity, which means it needs to be an actual governmental currency, since just-regular-folks are unlikely to maintain a reserve for buy-backs, or to do the necessary, as it were.

Anyway, yes, it does seem like the maturation of cryptocurrencies into actual usable currencies requires this evolutionary step.

                                -Bill

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