Bitcoin's appeal rests on a supply cap that no government or central bank can inflate away, offering refuge from currency debasement and capital controls. Yet that same rigidity removes the tools democracies use to soften recessions, fund emergencies, and manage debt burdens, potentially shifting adjustment costs onto the most vulnerable. The question is not whether sound money has virtues, but whether societies can tolerate a monetary system that answers to code rather than to citizens. If Bitcoin succeeds, who governs monetary policy—and by what mandate?