Comment by cheschire
7 hours ago
Unless they didn’t.
There’s nothing inherently valuable about crypto beyond what value people assign to it in their minds.
7 hours ago
Unless they didn’t.
There’s nothing inherently valuable about crypto beyond what value people assign to it in their minds.
Okay, fine. Everyone involved** agrees that mining the next block is valuable.
Same with all money. Please research more before parroting this argument. You are not the first person to think of it.
Fiat money has a difference: an army. It is issued by a government which has the legitimate right to demand taxes, paid in their currency, and deprive you of life and liberty if you don't.
Ultimately the populace could repudiate the whole social contract, which is also just consensus, but that's a far bigger deal than mere money.
Well to be pedantic, in the USA at least the value of the dollar is largely maintained by civilian law enforcement rather than the military. If you incur a tax liability and fail to pay your debt in US dollars then eventually the IRS will seize your assets and auction them off to settle the debt. Due to the Posse Comitatus Act, the Army doesn't get involved.
The true value of (fiat) money is derived from the fact that contracts are denominated in that money and those contracts are enforced by a central authority with guns. No other assumption is needed in financial engineering.
GP was arguing against GGP’s point and I was simply pointing out that the argument was hollow.
What are you referring to with “research more”?
Hmm, maybe I wasn't following the thread very well? Many people like to discredit Bitcoin by saying it's only worth is what people decide it is. If that's not what you were trying to do then I apologize.
2 replies →
It's always hilarious when people who are unclear on the basics themselves tell other to "research more". I suppose it's the Dunning-Kruger Effect.
False. Gold and silver have intrinsic value beyond their use as currency.
True, but only a minuscule fraction of it is used for that purpose. If that were the sole source of its value, it would be worth pennies per once.
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Not for most people. They aren't going to smelt it down and use it to build electronics or jewelry.
For most people the value is what they can receive for it in trade. Which holds for all money.