Glossary · deep dive

Hyperinflation

Extremely fast inflation; a common definition is prices rising 50% or more in a single month.

Hyperinflation is inflation out of control. Hanke and Krus use the classic definition: monthly inflation of at least 50%.

Worst recorded cases (Hanke & Krus table)

  • Hungary, July 1946: 4.19 × 1016% per month; prices doubled every 15 hours.
  • Zimbabwe, November 2008: 7.96 × 1010% per month; prices doubled about every 25 hours.
  • Germany, October 1923: 29,500% per month.

In each case a government printed money to pay its bills. Bitcoin's fixed issuance schedule makes that impossible by design.