Not any different than any modern currency.

With a total fixed number of Bitcoins, it's possible that a convention could arise that Bitcoins become primarily valued in something other than currencies. Perhaps priced in terms of gold since the overall supply of gold changes slowly, too. So then Bitcoin would be a digital representation of something with tangible value (gold). You can't print more gold therefore Bitcoin would also have a relatively stable value over time, although it's price in other fiat currencies could fluctuate widely.


Actually, Bitcoin is self-regulating in terms of checking the authenticity of Bitcoins and in how fast or how many Bitcoins are ultimately issued.

Despite the high interest in Bitcoins when its price zoomed to dizzying heights, I'm not aware of any instances of counterfeit Bitcoins being successfuly passed off yet. But plenty of Bitcoins have been stolen by hacking the software behind the exchanges and digital wallets used to store Bitcoins.