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market cap is worthless when we talk about fiat currency.

shawabawa3 9y ago
but ethereum/bitcoin aren't fiat currencies? market cap is useful in that it shows the total value of the coin. Comparing the price of 1BTC to 1ETH doesn't make sense, but comparing their market cap does
- JumpCrisscross 9y ago
  > ethereum/bitcoin aren't fiat currencies The alternatives to fiat money are commodity money, e.g. gold, or representative money, e.g. pieces of paper exchangeable for gold at a fixed rate. Cryptocurrencies are more similar to fiat money in terms of their value being a function of social agreement versus utility.
- lkbm 9y ago
  gcb0 isn't proposing that value should be measured in ETH per BTC. Sounds like they think the value of currency is in people using it for a medium of exchange--e.g., Oversatock.com accepting bitcoin makes bitcoin valuable. "Useful" might be a better term, but it makes some sense to equate those two.
- ty_a 9y ago
  >but ethereum/bitcoin aren't fiat currencies? Fiat currencies are created by fiat (legal declaration). No government created either, so no, they are not fiat currencies.
  - beberlei 9y ago
    you can assume that the bitcoin/ethereum code-base are the modern/digital version of a legal declaration. But I meant in the sense that they don't have intrinsic value like gold.
    - polotics 9y ago
      Well you cannot eat, drink or breath gold either... Gold is impossible to fake, but ETFs based on double-counted collateral and various other fixing fixes have made it a fool's errand to preserve capital with gold.
- beberlei 9y ago
  Well they have no intrinsic value like gold. And the code could be considered a legal framework that acts as a contract for how BTC/ETC are valued.
  - wcarron 9y ago
    Well gold also has little intrinsic value. Of course, it has uses like in the manufacture of technology, but most gold is used for making useless shit into shiny useless shit. Crypto has uses, too though. Such as facilitating payments, DLT, etc. All value is assigned. So, what then, besides traditional consensus, makes gold 'intrinsically valuable' without also making cryptocurrencies intrinsically valuable?
  - zeep 9y ago
    Bitcoins have intrinsic value until the hash is broken and gold has intrinsic value until we can make it from neutrons, protons and electrons

but ethereum/bitcoin aren't fiat currencies? market cap is useful in that it shows the total value of the coin. Comparing the price of 1BTC to 1ETH doesn't make sense, but comparing their market cap does

JumpCrisscross 9y ago
> ethereum/bitcoin aren't fiat currencies The alternatives to fiat money are commodity money, e.g. gold, or representative money, e.g. pieces of paper exchangeable for gold at a fixed rate. Cryptocurrencies are more similar to fiat money in terms of their value being a function of social agreement versus utility.
lkbm 9y ago
gcb0 isn't proposing that value should be measured in ETH per BTC. Sounds like they think the value of currency is in people using it for a medium of exchange--e.g., Oversatock.com accepting bitcoin makes bitcoin valuable. "Useful" might be a better term, but it makes some sense to equate those two.
ty_a 9y ago
>but ethereum/bitcoin aren't fiat currencies? Fiat currencies are created by fiat (legal declaration). No government created either, so no, they are not fiat currencies.
- beberlei 9y ago
  you can assume that the bitcoin/ethereum code-base are the modern/digital version of a legal declaration. But I meant in the sense that they don't have intrinsic value like gold.
  - polotics 9y ago
    Well you cannot eat, drink or breath gold either... Gold is impossible to fake, but ETFs based on double-counted collateral and various other fixing fixes have made it a fool's errand to preserve capital with gold.
beberlei 9y ago
Well they have no intrinsic value like gold. And the code could be considered a legal framework that acts as a contract for how BTC/ETC are valued.
- wcarron 9y ago
  Well gold also has little intrinsic value. Of course, it has uses like in the manufacture of technology, but most gold is used for making useless shit into shiny useless shit. Crypto has uses, too though. Such as facilitating payments, DLT, etc. All value is assigned. So, what then, besides traditional consensus, makes gold 'intrinsically valuable' without also making cryptocurrencies intrinsically valuable?
- zeep 9y ago
  Bitcoins have intrinsic value until the hash is broken and gold has intrinsic value until we can make it from neutrons, protons and electrons