« The problems with Bitcoin | Main | The nature of Bitcoin, part 2: gold, the dollar and future value »

Jan 12, 2014



I really hate the usage of the phrase "intrinsic value". There is no such thing in any realm of the universe. You cannot cut open any piece of paper or gold or popcorn or trees and find a substance called value. Instead, value is subjective - something is worth only what somebody else will pay you for it. Trades only occur when both parties value what they gain more than what they receive. Stuff can be valuable even it's not physical, look at people paying big money for ebooks, or look at the marketplace for things like digital likes (see http://www.buylikesreviews.com for instance), and people value Bitcoins, Litecoins, Dogecoins,etc. But the reason for this value is always subjective in nature. Intrinsic value doesn't exist.

D - I agree with you. "Intrinsic value" just means that someone will buy it from you under some circumstances. But it is misleading since people talk about gold and the dollar having this intrinsic value as if they were special somehow, but they aren't. But that is the point of the post - since you can provably get a valuable service on the Bitcoin network in exchange for Bitcoins, they are worth something (and have intrinsic value, for those that insist on using the term). Thanks for the comment.


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