Hearn: The resolution of the Bitcoin experiment

That is simply nonsense. The problem wasn't the amount of gold or silver. In the absence of fixed exchange rates, the prices of the metals will simply adjust to accommodate the current supply and demand. (Short of the price becoming so high or low that the amounts required become inconvenient to deal with, at any rate, but gold and silver have never reached that point.)

The real problem was that the U.S. government issued notes for more gold and silver than it actually had, and eventually went bankrupt (in effect, though they didn't use that term) and refused to honor its banknotes according to the original terms. First they restricted the exchange of notes for gold by individuals, then they repeatedly redefined the notes as smaller and smaller amounts of gold, partially repudiating their debt. In the end they stopped honoring the exchange value of the notes altogether.

There have been many issues with the use of precious metals as currency in the United States (bimetallism and the over-issue of banknotes beyond what the government could repay being two obvious examples), but an insufficient supply of precious metals for use in trade was never one of them.

> To be a valuable currency, rareness is much less important than stability.

I agree about the need for stability, but volatility is not an inherent part of Bitcoin. It's volatile now because it's still new, and growing rapidly. Like any new currency, the rate of inflation is very high, outstripped thus far only by the rate of increase in demand. Over time the rate of inflation will decrease, eventually to zero, and demand will stabilize.