I believe the term you're looking for is a commodity. Keep in mind that commodity based currencies (like gold) have existed for thousands of years. Bitcoin act

I believe the term you're looking for is a commodity. Keep in mind that commodity based currencies (like gold) have existed for thousands of years. Bitcoin acts more like a commodity than these because there's a specific upper limit on the maximum quantity and you can't discover new bitcoins (at least after they are all mined. But yes, this could be considered a good thing (no one can control it) or a bad thing (no one can control it).