The economic information page of the Federal Reserve of St. Louis (FRED), in the United States, recently published a graph in which it calculated the price of a dozen eggs with bitcoin (BTC). By comparing the price of this staple in dollars and in bitcoin from January 2021 to the present, the Fed was trying to highlight the higher volatility of the cryptocurrency against the US dollar.
However, the bitcoin community responded promptly. to the Fed’s argument, extending the study period. While the authority compared the behavior of both currencies in a total period of 16 months, the bitcoiners decided to extend the sample to the year 2019 and even 2015.
In this way, the increase in the purchasing power of BTC compared to a dozen eggs was evidentall thanks to the sustained increase in the price of bitcoin in these periods.
Below, the first chart from the Fed from January 2021 to April 2022, shows that the price of a dozen eggs ranged from $1.47 to $2.52. This evidences an average inter-monthly inflation of 3.6% and a total increase of 71% of the price of eggs in the indicated period.
The second chart proposed by the Fed shows the price of a dozen eggs expressed in satoshis, one hundred millionth of a BTC. “The price fluctuates quite a bit, between 2,829 and 6,086, which is much more than the price of the US dollar,” the Fed notes.
In other words, the organization through this graph pointed out that buying eggs with BTC could turn out to be more expensive and less convenient for the population. And although it may be a correct argument in periods of great volatility in the cryptocurrency market, the reality is that the long-term picture speaks volumes about how bitcoin has not lost its value in the face of inflation in the United States.
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Extending the price range in bitcoin
Once the Fed’s thesis of notorious bitcoin volatility was established, the interactive chart itself offered bitcoiners the ability to change the time frame. Twitter user @SimplestBTCBook moved the stop below the FRED chart to the left, to show the price of the egg carton since March 2020.
It shows that the price varies between 28,000 satoshis and 6,086 satoshis. As you can see, those who have had BTC for several years can buy the egg carton at a more convenient price for their pockets.
Since the tool to customize the graph is available, the bitcoiner publication BTC Times (@BTC) extended the period to include the year 2015, with which, the reduction in the price of eggs in BTC is much more dramaticas shown in the graph below.
From an attempt to stigmatize bitcoin and highlight its volatility as a downside by the Fed, the prompt response from bitcoiners completely reversed the message. If a time period of several years is considered, the role of bitcoin as a store of value is more evident, either as savings or for the simple acquisition of a carton of eggs.