Cykros on Nostr: The issue seems to be, bitcoins don't exist anywhere, as such. Before or after ...

The issue seems to be, bitcoins don't exist anywhere, as such. Before or after they're mined. What exists is the value on the network, as expressed by the code. And yes, insofar as their value is accounted for in the code, that value exists before mining. We can think of mining almost like when authorized shares become outstanding shares when they are issued. They exist ahead of time, but they are only considered to have any value (in fiat terms, and in the case of stock, voting rights as well) once they are issued. Just like the issuance of authorized shares into outstanding shares dilutes market value, so too does the mining of bitcoin dilute the market value of outstanding bitcoin (even if we often just express the market cap based on the 21 million figure out of what amounts to sloppy accounting).