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Something has "value" if people will buy it. People have been buying Bitcoin for US Dollars reliably for years, hence bitcoins have "value". Could the US gover

by drcode 11y ago

Something has "value" if people will buy it. People have been buying Bitcoin for US Dollars reliably for years, hence bitcoins have "value". Could the US government collapse and the USD become worthless tomorrow? Certainly. Could everyone wake up tomorrow and decide "Bitcoins are worthless?" certainly. But both those things are unlikely to happen. The more interesting question is whether Bitcoins are "overvalued" or "undervalued"... but that is a far more difficult question to answer.

Ologn 11y ago
> Something has "value" if people will buy it. People buy it because they can use it. Gold, oil, sitting chairs etc. have value because they are useful. Bitcoins have no inherit use after purchase. > People have been buying Bitcoin for US Dollars reliably for years, hence bitcoins have "value". No they have price, not value. I quoted Keynes before "markets can remain irrational longer than I can remain solvent". > everyone wake up tomorrow...But both those things are unlikely to happen. Both of those things are unlikely to happen tomorrow, but the chance of the US government collapsing tomorrow is relatively a much lower chance than Bitcoin's price diving tomorrow, and people selling it like crazy. I mean, this just happened - Bitcoins were worth $315 at the beginning of the week and are worth $290 at the moment.
- kinghajj 11y ago
  What's the use value of a dollar bill? To wipe one's ass? To place into a wallet to make it bulkier? No: to store for later exchange for goods and services. And so with Bitcoin. And that doesn't even get into colored coins/smart property and the myriad of other uses that have been thought. It's hard to accept your assertion "Bitcoins have no inherit use after purchase."
kaonashi 11y ago
Bitcoins have value, but it's safe to say that nobody is going to jail if they can't get their hands on it in lieu of other currencies. Because of this, BTC will be subordinate to those currencies where this is the case. This may or may not be a problem for any particular BTC application.

by drcode 11y ago

Ologn 11y ago

> Something has "value" if people will buy it. People buy it because they can use it. Gold, oil, sitting chairs etc. have value because they are useful. Bitcoins have no inherit use after purchase. > People have been buying Bitcoin for US Dollars reliably for years, hence bitcoins have "value". No they have price, not value. I quoted Keynes before "markets can remain irrational longer than I can remain solvent". > everyone wake up tomorrow...But both those things are unlikely to happen. Both of those things are unlikely to happen tomorrow, but the chance of the US government collapsing tomorrow is relatively a much lower chance than Bitcoin's price diving tomorrow, and people selling it like crazy. I mean, this just happened - Bitcoins were worth $315 at the beginning of the week and are worth $290 at the moment.

kinghajj 11y ago
What's the use value of a dollar bill? To wipe one's ass? To place into a wallet to make it bulkier? No: to store for later exchange for goods and services. And so with Bitcoin. And that doesn't even get into colored coins/smart property and the myriad of other uses that have been thought. It's hard to accept your assertion "Bitcoins have no inherit use after purchase."

kaonashi 11y ago

Bitcoins have value, but it's safe to say that nobody is going to jail if they can't get their hands on it in lieu of other currencies. Because of this, BTC will be subordinate to those currencies where this is the case. This may or may not be a problem for any particular BTC application.