I think about this all the time. So many factors compound to affect equity- many more than just rewarding early adaptors. 

Honestly, short term I think equity is a big claim that doesn't accurately reflect the reality of the barriers to entry. But I think the claim is referring to more of the long term potential; like the deflationary aspect is pretty huge in the long term because that means that whatever Bitcoin an individual owns does not ever diminish in value. It solves for the inflation problem that currently amounts to huge theft from working people of the value of their labor.

What is the book you're teaching with?