Have you ever heard a true story? On a certain Pacific island, the locals used giant stone wheels as money for generations.

To get these things, they had to row boats 400 kilometers to another island to quarry them, risking their lives to ship them back. Because it was so hard to obtain, this monetary system actually ran pretty smoothly for hundreds of years.

Until 1871, when an American captain showed up with explosives and a steamship—he easily hauled back a whole load of stones. The islanders were stunned: the wealth their ancestors had accumulated instantly became worthless.

What does this tell us? There really are different levels of money. The judging standard is particularly simple and crude: **look at the ratio of stock to new supply**.

• Stock = total amount already in circulation
• New supply = amount that can be newly issued each year
• High ratio = hard to increase supply = hard currency
• Low ratio = easy to print = destined to depreciate

**Why has gold stood firm for thousands of years?**
The answer lies in its scarcity: mining costs are sky-high, it can't be artificially made, it barely wears out, and its annual supply increase is always stuck at 1.5%-2%. No matter how much the price of gold surges, short-term production can't catch up with demand.

What’s more—the “hardness” of money directly shapes the course of civilization:
→ With hard currency: people dare to invest in the future → technological progress → social prosperity
→ With soft currency everywhere: who wants to save? Living for the moment becomes the norm → innovation stalls

So now you understand why so many people call BTC “digital gold”—at its core, it’s all about pursuing that ultimate stock-to-new-supply ratio.