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Here's one way to think about it: What does "actual uses" mean other than "there are people out there that have a desire to get their hands on some of it"? In

Here's one way to think about it: What does "actual uses" mean other than "there are people out there that have a desire to get their hands on some of it"? In other words: things only have value because someone, somewhere is ready to exert themselves to get some. Where that intent comes from is entirely irrelevant. There is only one thing : supply and demand. Where the demand comes from does not enter the conversation. There is strictly no such thing as "intrinsic value". Econ 101.

MagnumOpus 6y ago
> Where the demand comes from does not enter the conversation Econ 102: Where the demand comes from matters. Aka "substitute goods". Gold has no convenient substitutes for the combination of ductility, corrosion resistance and electric conductance it offers, hence demand has a (high) floor. BTC has an infinite number of convenient substitutes for its fundamental properties -- anyone can make a BTC substitute in half an hour, and there are hundreds you can buy already. So the floor on demand is the psychological buy-in -- which is not any better than the demand floor for tulip bulbs.