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By the definition of the word, no its not. But: Since "crypto" holds no intrinsic value, such as the backing of a states wealth, the actual material value of r

By the definition of the word, no its not. But: Since "crypto" holds no intrinsic value, such as the backing of a states wealth, the actual material value of resources like gold, oil or coffee, or the structural value of a company (knowledge, employees, contracts), all its "value" is dependent on what other people are willing to pay for it, and the money these people have pumped into the system. To put this in simplest terms: Every cent someone makes from whatevercoin, has to be put into the system by someone else. A house appreciates in value since living space is a scarce commodity facing growing demand...it's sarcity and thus its appreciation in value is a natural process caused by usefulness and demand. The scarcity of blorkchain "currencies" however, is artificial, and they have no other use than as a token of value for something of actual worth.

ec109685 5y ago
It provides a mechanism to transfer balances securely from wallet A to Wallet B and it’s popularity and thus acceptance continues to increase, so it’s unfair to say there is no value inherent to it.
- usrbinbash 5y ago
  I can securely transfer monetary assets from one bank account to another as well, and be sure that said assets won't lose a lot of their value overnight because of some tweet.
  - ec109685 5y ago
    Now do it between two people in different countries. Not saying it's perfect, but wrong to say there's no value.
    - usrbinbash 5y ago
      That's exactly what people are doing almost everytime they order something online from a company not in their country of residence. And the system used to do most of these transactions (credit cards) works so well, it handles about 1,000,000,000 transactions per day without breaking a sweat. (source: https://www.cardrates.com/advice/number-of-credit-card-transactions-per-day-year/ https://www.cardrates.com/advice/number-of-credit-card-trans...) How many transactions are handled per day by major blorkchain currencies again?
      - ec109685 5y ago
        I went through about 4 different modalities to pay for a tutor for son in India. It isn’t all that easy.
cortic 5y ago
>To put this in simplest terms: Every cent someone makes from whatevercoin, has to be put into the system by someone else. A house appreciates in value since living space is a scarce commodity facing growing demand...it's sarcity and thus its appreciation in value is a natural process caused by usefulness and demand. You just fell over your own point there. Both houses and bitcoins go up in price if the demand for them goes up or the supply of them goes down... calling demand 'put into the system' when you disapprove changes nothing. Also there are plenty of people who use houses as 'tokens of value' only to flip them when the market is favorable, and there are plenty of people who use crypto as a functional currency when other options are unfavorable to their circumstance.
- usrbinbash 5y ago
  A house has intrinsic value. People can live in a house, store things there, or rent it out. Its value was not put into the system, it simply exists, period. Even if the market crashes, a house is still useful and can appreciate again. Its market-value is dependent on both demand and usefulness. The second variable doesn't change. Blorkchain "currencies" have no intrinsic value, because they have no other use than as tokens. Their market-value depends entirely on the market, entirely on the money pumped into the system. In a way, blorkchain coins are a bit like overvalued stocks, the difference is, there is not even a company behind it, there is only the market evaluation.
  - cortic 5y ago
    >A house has intrinsic value. People can live in a house, store things there, or rent it out. Its value was not put into the system, it simply exists, period. Even if the market crashes, a house is still useful and can appreciate again. Its market-value is dependent on both demand and usefulness. The second variable doesn't change. Let me answer that by showing you a mirror perspective of your point; Crypto has intrinsic value. People can use Crypto to exchange or store value bypassing dangerous intermediaries and structures of control. Its value was not put into the system, it simply exists, period. even if the housing market crashes, a crypto currency will still be useful and can appreciate. Cryptos market-value is dependent on both demand and usefulness. The second variable doesn't change. Now the point here is that the mirror argument is about as right as yours. You can imagine ways crypto will devalue, i can imagine ways your house will devalue. You can imagine using your devalued house for things that are useful to you, i can imagine using a devalued crypto currency for things that are useful to me.
mattwilsonn888 5y ago
"Artificiality" is poorly defined and not clearly linked to being 'bad' in any way. Scarcity in blockchains is not, let's say trivial, since you haven't described how being artificial is a detriment. If the Bitcoin Core developers, the exchanges, and all the largest whales all collaborated to increase the supply of Bitcoin in their interest, they would fail lest they somehow convinced everyone who puts value in the network (many put value in for the reason that the supply will likely never change) that the supply should change. You should do a bit more research on how blockchains work and where there security comes from.
ausbah 5y ago
fiat currencies aren't back by government wealth, they're "backed" by people's trust in the future stability of the currency. people trust that the value of the currency will remain relatively constant over shortish time horizons this "value" is also arguably "artifical" bc it is also derived from nebulous concepts like "trust" I personally think deriding something bc it's source of value it's what I like is a fruitless exercise

ec109685 5y ago

It provides a mechanism to transfer balances securely from wallet A to Wallet B and it’s popularity and thus acceptance continues to increase, so it’s unfair to say there is no value inherent to it.

usrbinbash 5y ago
I can securely transfer monetary assets from one bank account to another as well, and be sure that said assets won't lose a lot of their value overnight because of some tweet.
- ec109685 5y ago
  Now do it between two people in different countries. Not saying it's perfect, but wrong to say there's no value.
  - usrbinbash 5y ago
    That's exactly what people are doing almost everytime they order something online from a company not in their country of residence. And the system used to do most of these transactions (credit cards) works so well, it handles about 1,000,000,000 transactions per day without breaking a sweat. (source: https://www.cardrates.com/advice/number-of-credit-card-transactions-per-day-year/ https://www.cardrates.com/advice/number-of-credit-card-trans...) How many transactions are handled per day by major blorkchain currencies again?
    - ec109685 5y ago
      I went through about 4 different modalities to pay for a tutor for son in India. It isn’t all that easy.

cortic 5y ago

>To put this in simplest terms: Every cent someone makes from whatevercoin, has to be put into the system by someone else. A house appreciates in value since living space is a scarce commodity facing growing demand...it's sarcity and thus its appreciation in value is a natural process caused by usefulness and demand. You just fell over your own point there. Both houses and bitcoins go up in price if the demand for them goes up or the supply of them goes down... calling demand 'put into the system' when you disapprove changes nothing. Also there are plenty of people who use houses as 'tokens of value' only to flip them when the market is favorable, and there are plenty of people who use crypto as a functional currency when other options are unfavorable to their circumstance.

usrbinbash 5y ago
A house has intrinsic value. People can live in a house, store things there, or rent it out. Its value was not put into the system, it simply exists, period. Even if the market crashes, a house is still useful and can appreciate again. Its market-value is dependent on both demand and usefulness. The second variable doesn't change. Blorkchain "currencies" have no intrinsic value, because they have no other use than as tokens. Their market-value depends entirely on the market, entirely on the money pumped into the system. In a way, blorkchain coins are a bit like overvalued stocks, the difference is, there is not even a company behind it, there is only the market evaluation.
- cortic 5y ago
  >A house has intrinsic value. People can live in a house, store things there, or rent it out. Its value was not put into the system, it simply exists, period. Even if the market crashes, a house is still useful and can appreciate again. Its market-value is dependent on both demand and usefulness. The second variable doesn't change. Let me answer that by showing you a mirror perspective of your point; Crypto has intrinsic value. People can use Crypto to exchange or store value bypassing dangerous intermediaries and structures of control. Its value was not put into the system, it simply exists, period. even if the housing market crashes, a crypto currency will still be useful and can appreciate. Cryptos market-value is dependent on both demand and usefulness. The second variable doesn't change. Now the point here is that the mirror argument is about as right as yours. You can imagine ways crypto will devalue, i can imagine ways your house will devalue. You can imagine using your devalued house for things that are useful to you, i can imagine using a devalued crypto currency for things that are useful to me.

mattwilsonn888 5y ago

"Artificiality" is poorly defined and not clearly linked to being 'bad' in any way. Scarcity in blockchains is not, let's say trivial, since you haven't described how being artificial is a detriment. If the Bitcoin Core developers, the exchanges, and all the largest whales all collaborated to increase the supply of Bitcoin in their interest, they would fail lest they somehow convinced everyone who puts value in the network (many put value in for the reason that the supply will likely never change) that the supply should change. You should do a bit more research on how blockchains work and where there security comes from.

ausbah 5y ago

fiat currencies aren't back by government wealth, they're "backed" by people's trust in the future stability of the currency. people trust that the value of the currency will remain relatively constant over shortish time horizons this "value" is also arguably "artifical" bc it is also derived from nebulous concepts like "trust" I personally think deriding something bc it's source of value it's what I like is a fruitless exercise