Your dollars are designed to lose value.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand aims to keep inflation between 1% and 3% a year. That is the plan when things go well. It means the money in your savings account buys a little less every year, on purpose.
A few percent sounds small. Over a working life it adds up. Try it below.
What will your savings buy later?
This assumes cash earning no interest. Savings accounts pay some interest, but after tax it often fails to keep up with inflation.
Inflation is a slow leak. Bitcoin was built so that leak cannot be added to its supply.
The scarcest money ever created.
New bitcoin is released to the computers that secure the network, called miners. Roughly every four years the amount released is cut in half. This is the "halving". The last one was in April 2024 and the next is expected around April 2028.
Because of the halvings, supply grows more slowly every year and stops for good at 21 million. Anyone can check this. Nobody can change it without convincing the whole network to agree, and the network has refused every attempt so far.
About 450 new bitcoin a day since the 2024 halving.
Daily issuance drops to about 225 bitcoin.
One bitcoin is 100,000,000 sats. You never need to buy a whole one.
Scarcer than gold
For 5,000 years gold was the hardest money on Earth, because new supply was slow to dig up. Since the 2024 halving, new bitcoin arrives at half gold's pace, and that rate halves again every four years.
New supply added each year, as a share of what already exists. Gold: about 3,600 tonnes mined a year against roughly 222,600 tonnes above ground (World Gold Council, mid-2026). And if gold's price soars, miners simply dig more. Bitcoin's schedule doesn't care about price.
1 bitcoin = 100,000,000 sats
A dollar splits into 100 cents. A bitcoin splits into 100 million smaller units called satoshis, or “sats”, named after bitcoin's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
You can buy any amount, from a few dollars up. Most people start small and add a little each week or month. Plenty of long-term holders count their savings in sats, not bitcoin.
From $6 to $100,000 in fourteen years.
In 2011 bitcoin averaged about US$6. In 2025 it averaged over US$100,000. That's roughly a doubling every year, on average, for fourteen years, with plenty of sharp falls along the way.
Plot the price on a log-log chart and something striking appears: the long-run path is close to a straight line. That pattern is called a power law, and it's how many long-term holders think about where bitcoin is heading.
Right now bitcoin trades near US$84,800 (early October 2026), below its long-run trend of about US$136k. Historically, periods below the line have been when long-term holders added the most. But a power law describes the past; it isn't a guarantee. Growth could slow as bitcoin gets bigger, and the price has spent years at a time well under the trend.
Plan your stack
Choose how much to put in, for how long, and what the price does. See what your bitcoin could be worth.
How much
What the price does
- You'd hold
- Price then
- Growth assumed
Your result shows on the chart above as an orange marker. Assumes the price moves steadily from today's US$84,800 to the scenario price, and today's exchange rate (NZ$1.78 per US$). Real prices will swing far more along the way. Illustration only, not a forecast or advice.
What if you'd started earlier?
Each month's buy uses that year's average price, 2026 buys use today's price, and all amounts use today's exchange rate. A rough guide to the past, which doesn't predict the future.
A shared record book that nobody owns.
Bitcoin is a public record of who owns what. Identical copies are kept on tens of thousands of computers around the world, run by ordinary people and companies. There is no head office and no off switch.
About every ten minutes a new page of transactions, called a block, is added. Each block is sealed to the one before it, so changing an old entry would mean redoing all the work that came after it, faster than the rest of the world combined. That is what makes the record so hard to fake.
~3,000 payments
~3,000 payments
added ~10 min later
Your bitcoin is not a file on your phone. It is an entry in that record that only you can move, using a secret key. Whoever holds the key controls the coins. That one idea explains both bitcoin's biggest strength and its biggest danger, which we cover below.
Why bitcoin wins.
It can't be diluted
No central bank can create more to pay its bills. The 21 million limit is enforced by every computer on the network.
You can truly own it
Money in a bank is a promise from the bank. Bitcoin you hold yourself can't be frozen, lent out or lost in a bank failure.
It works everywhere
Send any amount to anyone in the world, any day of the year, without asking permission or waiting for a bank to open.
Anyone can check it
The rules and the full history are public. You don't need to trust a company's word about how much exists.
It fits in your head
Your access can be backed up as 12 or 24 ordinary words. You can cross a border with your savings and nothing to declare in your pocket.
It has lasted
Running since January 2009 with no takeover of the network. Large fund managers now offer bitcoin funds on US stock exchanges, and some pension funds and university endowments hold it.
It's still early
Only a small share of the world owns any bitcoin. Every new holder competes for the same fixed 21 million, and fewer than one million are left to be mined.
Not your keys, not your bitcoin.
When you buy bitcoin on an exchange and leave it there, the exchange holds the key. What you have is its promise to give it back. Exchanges have collapsed before and taken customers' coins with them, including Mt Gox in 2014, FTX in 2022 and New Zealand's own Cryptopia in 2019.
Self custody means you hold the key yourself. It's simpler than it sounds.
You own a promise
You log in and see a balance. If the exchange collapses, freezes withdrawals or is hacked, your bitcoin can go with it.
You own the bitcoin
Your hardware wallet holds the key. No company can freeze it, lend it out or lose it for you. Your one job is keeping your recovery words safe.
Buy a small amount first
Use a provider registered on New Zealand's Financial Service Providers Register, and check the FMA's warning list. Start with an amount you'd be fine losing while you learn.
Get a hardware wallet
A small device that keeps your key offline. Buy it new, directly from the maker. Never use one that arrives already set up or second-hand.
Write down your recovery words
The device shows you 12 or 24 words. Write them on paper, or stamp them into metal for fire safety. Never photograph them, type them into a computer, or store them online.
Send a test, then the rest
Withdraw a small amount from the exchange to your wallet. Once it arrives, send the remainder. Check the address on the device's own screen every time.
Plan for your family
If you die and nobody knows how to reach your bitcoin, it is gone for good. Leave clear instructions with your will, without writing the words themselves in it.
Not a wallet maker, not an exchange, not "support", not the police. Anyone who has those words has your bitcoin.
The local rules, in brief.
Inland Revenue treats bitcoin as property. Profit from selling, trading or swapping it is generally taxable as income, at your normal tax rate. Keep records of what you paid and when.
From 1 April 2026, New Zealand crypto providers must report customer transactions to Inland Revenue under an international framework. Activity on overseas platforms is shared too.
Registration on the Financial Service Providers Register is a minimum, not a stamp of approval. It doesn't mean the government checked or guarantees the business.
Tax depends on your situation. If you're unsure, talk to a tax adviser. See Inland Revenue's cryptoasset guidance.
Bullish, not reckless.
Bitcoin rewards patience and punishes mistakes. The people who do well with it know these going in.
The price swings hard
Bitcoin has fallen by half or more several times, and did so again in 2026. If you need the money in the next few years, it may not be there.
Mistakes are permanent
Lose your recovery words, or send to the wrong address, and there is no bank to call. Millions of bitcoin are thought to be lost for good.
Scams target newcomers
Fake investment platforms, romance scams and people posing as support staff. Bitcoin itself pays no returns. Anyone promising guaranteed profits is lying.
It could fail
Critics argue bitcoin has no value beyond what people will pay, that governments could restrict it, and that its energy use is hard to justify. None of this is settled.
Tax still applies
Gains can be taxable even if you never convert back to dollars, such as when you swap one coin for another.
A common rule among long-term holders: only own an amount you could watch fall by half without selling.
Stack sats. Hold your keys. Think in decades.
You don't need a whole bitcoin, perfect timing, or a finance degree. Start small, take custody, and add a little regularly.
Things people usually ask.
Is it too late to get in?
Nobody knows. Supporters point out that only a small share of the world holds any. Sceptics point to past price peaks followed by long falls. You don't need a whole bitcoin; you can buy a few dollars' worth.
Can bitcoin be hacked?
The network itself has never been successfully taken over. Losses almost always come from hacked exchanges, stolen recovery words or scams. That's why self custody matters.
Isn't it mostly used by criminals?
Every bitcoin transaction is public and permanent, which makes it a poor choice for hiding money. Studies by blockchain analysis firms consistently find illicit activity is a small share of total use, though it does happen.
How much should I buy?
We can't tell you that; it depends on your finances and goals. Many people start small, buy regularly in fixed amounts, and learn self custody before putting in more.
Could the government ban it?
Governments can restrict exchanges and banks dealing in it, and some have. Shutting down the network itself would require every country to act at once, across thousands of computers.
Don't take our word for it. Go deeper.
The more people learn about bitcoin, the more convinced they tend to become. Here's a path from your first 15 minutes to real understanding, using the best free and low-cost material available.
- Day 1 · 15 min
Read “The Bullish Case for Bitcoin”
The single best essay on why bitcoin could become global money, written for newcomers.
Read the essay - Week 1 · a few evenings
Read one short book
Inventing Bitcoin by Yan Pritzker explains how it works in under 100 pages, no maths needed.
Find the book - Week 2 · your first sats
Buy a small amount and move it
Learning by doing beats any book. Follow our self custody steps with an amount you're comfortable with.
Self custody steps - Month 1 and beyond
Go deep on money itself
Read one of the big books below and pick a podcast for your commute.
See the library
Books
- Broken MoneyLyn Alden. The history of money and why today's system is failing savers. Balanced and thorough.
- The Bitcoin StandardSaifedean Ammous. The classic case for bitcoin as hard money. Strongly argued.
- Inventing BitcoinYan Pritzker. The clearest short explanation of how bitcoin works.
- Mastering BitcoinAndreas Antonopoulos. The technical reference, free to read online.
Free courses and guides
- Plan ₿ AcademyStructured courses from beginner to advanced, in many languages.
- Bitcoiner.guidePractical, independent guides to wallets, backups and privacy.
- Learn Me A BitcoinVisual, plain-English explanations of how every part works.
- The original white paperSatoshi Nakamoto, 2008. Nine pages that started it all.
Podcasts
- What Bitcoin DidLong-form interviews with the people building and investing in bitcoin.
- The Bitcoin Standard PodcastEconomics-focused conversations on money and bitcoin.
Check it yourself
- mempool.spaceWatch new blocks arrive live, and look up any transaction.
- Clark Moody dashboardLive supply, issuance and network statistics in one place.
- Bitcoin TreasuriesWhich companies, funds and countries hold bitcoin, and how much.
New Zealand
- Inland Revenue: cryptoassetsHow bitcoin is taxed here, with worked examples.
- FMA warnings and alertsCheck any platform or person before you send money.
- SortedNew Zealand's free money guide. Good for getting the basics right first: emergency fund, debt, KiwiSaver.
Kia ora, I'm Anand.
I'm a software engineer in Auckland. I built whybitcoin.nz because most of what's written about bitcoin is either hype or jargon. New Zealanders deserve a clear explanation of why it matters, and how to hold it safely without handing control to someone else.
If something here is wrong or unclear, I want to know.
- No referral fees
- No sponsors
- No coin or course to sell