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I'm well aware of its limited use-cases. Its also a good heat insulator. I saw a prototype chassis get built with gold leaf being placed around the firewall and

I'm well aware of its limited use-cases. Its also a good heat insulator. I saw a prototype chassis get built with gold leaf being placed around the firewall and the tranny tunnel. While useful, in a very limited usecase kind of way, it still seemed rather absurd to have that material being used could be seen as anything more than commodity. It's like saying Carbon Fibre should also be a currency as it has equally limited usecases. But none of that really changes the fact that 'intrinsic worth' is just a convenient word/argument people throw around to dismiss something they don't like or understand, failing to see that fiat has lost any of its intrinsic worth for over an entire generation (starting with the USD in 1913) and has brought about a level of prosperity never seen before in the World. It's a trade off I'd make in a heart beat if I knew for certain that the generations to follow would have a quality and standard of Life comparable to Nobels if I were a poor peasant in 1912. Whatever paradigm metal backed currencies had utility in has been lost and while many may opine for its return, I'm glad it happened. I don't think you could truly fund a successful Space Program or something like the Internet without (at least initial) massive fiat deficit spending; and that is something most deluded 'libertarians' find unnecessary. Though that same property is what is supposed to be the vanguard to prevent war, yet one needs to only look back in Imperial European and Asian History (especially feudal Japan) to see just how wrong that really is.

gamblor956 6y ago
That's an extremely silly and nonsensical argument. Intrinsic worth means that an item has inherent, non-economic usefulness, i.e., you could use it even in the absence of trade of that item. Gold has because it can be used to protect items from corrosion, to conduct electricity, etc., and these uses don't depend on it being traded. Carbon fibre similarly has intrinsic uses, because you can do things with it even in the absence of trading it, like making cloth, parts, or vessels. Fiat currency does not have intrinsic value. It's sole value is that it is accepted by a government agency for debts owed by the government, and/or that it is the legally recognized method of non-barter exchanges of value. Cryptocurrency has no function apart for its role in trade, which is why--like fiat currency--it has no intrinsic value. Without trade, it's useless. It's sole proposition for having value is that the other people might want it.

gamblor956 6y ago

That's an extremely silly and nonsensical argument. Intrinsic worth means that an item has inherent, non-economic usefulness, i.e., you could use it even in the absence of trade of that item. Gold has because it can be used to protect items from corrosion, to conduct electricity, etc., and these uses don't depend on it being traded. Carbon fibre similarly has intrinsic uses, because you can do things with it even in the absence of trading it, like making cloth, parts, or vessels. Fiat currency does not have intrinsic value. It's sole value is that it is accepted by a government agency for debts owed by the government, and/or that it is the legally recognized method of non-barter exchanges of value. Cryptocurrency has no function apart for its role in trade, which is why--like fiat currency--it has no intrinsic value. Without trade, it's useless. It's sole proposition for having value is that the other people might want it.