A high value is certainly an implicit outcome of taking this literally: "What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of

A high value is certainly an implicit outcome of taking this literally: "What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust, allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted third party" One could make the argument that crypto ownership could be a short-lived thing - you buy some crypto, use it immediately for an electronic payment, then you have no more crypto, which would keep its value low, but then you need a trusted third party to buy the crypto from, and the retailer needs one to sell the crypto to. Removing a third party means that you need to be paid in crypto, and do all your transactions with crypto. Given that Bitcoin was created with a finite pool of coins, it's obviously necessary that each coin be worth a vast amount of money, for it to replace all fiat currently used for electronic payments.