Bitcoin Forum

I get a lot of people that tells me, " Bitcoin is a virtual item, how can a digital item be that expensive? "

My answer is always the same, " Do you understand Digital scarcity? " I then offer examples like this :

•Eve Online Revenant Super Carrier – $9,000.
•Echoing Fury Mace from Diablo 3 – $14,000.
•Age of Wulin Sword – $16,000.
•Ethereal Flames Pink War Dog in Dota 2 – $38,000.
•Amsterdam from Second Life – $50,000.
•Crystal Palace from Entropia Universe – $330,000.
•Club Neverdie in Entropia Universe – $635,000.

Source : http://www.therichest.com/rich-list/most-popular/10-of-the-most-expensive-virtual-items-in-video-games/ or a little video,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUNRl3kAATk&t=8m35s

No, we are not crazy, we just understand "Digital scarcity" and we profit from that. Bitcoin will NEVER have more than 21 000 000 coins in

circulation, give or take a few million, and THAT makes it rare.  ;) Do the math, and see where this is going.  ;D

I totally agree with you on this one. One of the examples you can also always mention about is the items in Starship Citizen. One spaceship on this online multiplayer game can go up to 16.000 Euros and even more

Why don't you mention Internet domain names - those are virtual real estate.
And then there are fiat bank deposits. Those have no asset backing whatsoever. At least Bitcoin has a PoW asset backing, but that is a difficult concept for many to understand.

there was a topic here about terminology and not calling bitcoin words like virtual that i liked. and i think it shouldn't be called things like that.
and to those who call bitcoin virtual, digital,... you take the scarcity approach but  i always point out how everything else is virtual. for example the number they see on their Paypal account, or their credit card account is virtual. but bitcoin is more than real because you programatically own bitcoin and nobody can take that away from you.

You forgot other in-game items from games like CS:GO, where weapons' skins can cost dozens of thousands of dollars just because it's a rare pattern. Bitcoin isn't expensive but many cannot afford it, including me. We've seen other useless things that cost a fortune, but some people can buy it because of their monthly earnings. Bitcoin also isn't a virtual item, it's actually a currency that can be used anonymously online. You can transfer funds to anyone without that person ever knowing who you are. If it was an item, I wouldn't try to earn it either.

but most people will tell you that you are not really paying for the item in those games. you pay for the fun with you hobby that you have. also most would say that people are crazy who pay so much for those digital goods, just like the people who buy bitcoin.

Nope, you can have perfectly fine fun in those games without having an ultra rare skin. Their are prestige objects and I think thats a good reason to not use them as counter arguments. Domain names are a way better example that people can understand better. Whats amazon.com worth? Its just virtual. Furthermore, your name is just virtual or information, is it worthless to you? Would you be fine if I just named you Rumpelstiltskin from now on? Non-physical objects have (personal) value and there is no reason why there should be an upper bound unless it has a physical form.

if i have to pay you just so you name me by my name, then by all means go ahead and give me names.
every hobby makes fun even with shitty gear. people pay for better stuff to enjoy it more. same goes for gaming.
some might buy expensive stuff for hobbies to compensate but this is the same for gaming and offline stuff.

I can agree to the War Dog courier in Dota 2. I mean, who would pay for a virtual item that only delivers something to a player and is technically the same as any other courier, but the difference is its ethereal gem and appearance? The seller understands how rare that item is, that's why he puts a large tag price for it. Same as bitcoin; 21 mio supply and after that, the remaining existing coins would be in circulation, those that were lost are lost, no chance to recover them anymore. We pay for the things we put the value in for the first place. I don't see what's crazy in that.

Where do people you meet live? People are buying cars for like 10000$-30000$ on average and bitcoin for 900$-1000$ is expensive? Its not ;), its great investment.
People will realize it after 10 years will pass from now, like with introduction of internet.

There is nothing weird about the price/value of virtual things.
It's just simple economics and it doesn't really matter if something is virtual or real.
Demand creates the price and if the demand is high, the price goes up as well.
The advantage of bitcoin, comparing to the virtual gaming items, it is that you can use the value of coin for many more things, than "only" for better game experience and also it can be changed back to fiat more easily.

yeah definitely some people are missing that but in my experience this is not the main concern of the people who I know , cause they know that the local currency worth nothing too ( working a full month to get 40 plastic papers )
the main concern that I have faced is that people are afraid that there may be more coins in the future , and if they invest in BTC then maybe a new coin will steal the lights

"to pay for" is not the same as "has value", that was the whole point. Non-physical things have value, e.g. your name.

Exactly, there's people playing 4 figures daily for stupid ass shit like Counter Strike: Global Offensive special weapons, and by special I mean the same damn weapons that are in the default game, but with a changed skin and shit like that. Same goes for Clash Royale (you can see how youtubers make a living with those games opening random items, and spending money on the items and so on). It's insane that people are wasting money on that while being skeptical about Bitcoin. The will never learn but we will laugh we are sitting on 6 figures a coin.

but only if someone is willing to pay for them. if nobody is willing to pay, then i see no value there.

Im sorry for you Rumpelstiltskin.

Most of these people are non-bitcoiners and they have little information on the topic...so they are basically talking out of their ass. You know

those people who think they know everything about anything, but actually know very little. They also want to have something physical in their

hand to show for that amount of money. I win the argument every time, when they finally get the true picture.  ;)

You need to explain them :
Bitcoin cannot be expensive as long as it is divisible. We can buy some bitcoins for even $1 too.

Moreover to use bitcoin as a currency, price is less significant. For example a merchant is accepting bitcoin payments for selling some of goods, after that he will immediately encash those bitcoin with his bitcoin dealer. I believe there will be no bother about the price levels for the merchants in this case always.

Here's a few other example to use when people say "how can something virtual be so valuable":

• Music, almost all of it, is digital, virtual now
• Cable TV is virtual - and most of these companies chart LOADS of money for programming
• Crowding funding is virtual
• MOST CURRENCY is virtual - how do people usually pay for goods and services? They hand over a plastic card which exchanges virtual value from one person to another

I think you should try to find why people believe bitcoin can't have that level of value? It's a simple economics lesson based on supply and demand.

twisting the question around to emphasize the expense part of the question..

well a tonne of gold is expensive
a whole company is expensive
amazons server farm is expensive

thats why you only buy
ounces
shares
racks

bitcoin allows you to buy Bits and Sats

I agree, woof woof.
http://media5.starkinsider.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Sock-Puppet-Pet-Food-Petflow.jpg

wow. that's.fun fact. I think those people just do not really know what virtual items refer to. and bitcoin price is kind of expensive because it is more famous than virtual items OP mentions, so people look at it more than the other items. so they think it is expensive, but it is not.

People like that you should stay far away from. People like that think ideas are not worth money and they think something must be physical to have value. People like thst just dont understand. Who knows what they think about other thinks  :-\

I really did not know that people would spend this much amount of money for virtual things and to be frank i am not sure what those items are. How come they are able to spend this much amount of money just to purchase gaming skins and equipment. Do those items have resale value .

it`s better to spend the bitcoins on digitalk goods than to spend them on drugs

Splendid, nice information to read about. The first item that mentioned on the article was "The Blue Party Hat in Runescape - $1680" the price is more than bitcoin for now. Scarcity in virtual world mean very expensive cost to have one. On the other hand, bitcoin price become more expensive if the demands increase but with limited supply, that lead to scarcity too. Store of value, bitcoin known as digital money and even can compare to gold as precious things.

Great examples there mate, it just goes to show the potential value that bitcoin could achieve, if people will pay thousands for shite, how much will they be willing to pay for bitcoin ?  i cant wait to see what it will become.

Bitcoin is expensive but satoshi is almost free you can claim hundreds to thousands of those every hour for FREE. :)  Yes People always look at the whole not realizing it can be taken by part.  I used to look at it that way before but now I realized Bitcoin is almost free if you take it parts by parts.  It will take time though.

Why are you bringing up drugs ???

Yes these items have resale value they exactly the same as the stock market. Prices go up prices go down.
Supply and demand is the basics of business.

Bitcoin is expensive, but not big as people say. It's just a store of value where we can save $100 or a very big number based on affordability. So the buying chances of bitcoin even from small denomination makes it inexpensive that anyone who believe digital assets can buy and profit.

This is a nice way to explain it, it may seem odd for some that you can apply the same concept of scarcity to a digital item since we are used to being able to duplicate our files with a few clicks but the truth is that digital scarcity is everywhere.

Too expensive? That's crazy. Just because total strangers, 8,000 miles away, gambling on Bitcoin price like they play PaiGow, that don't care at all about the ideals behind Bitcoin, living in the most oppressive country in the world are controlling the price and can lose thousands of dollars of my money overnight, why would I think it's too expensive?

 https://ronaldrogers.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/what-me-worry.jpg

I've heard this as well, there have been quite a few public figures who have stated that they didn't see the value in Bitcoin.
Also, kinda weird to be comparing cars to Bitcoin, totally different things and not a great argument that you're making there tbh.

but i think that people are already spending a lot for trading such virtual currency. in fact the mind of the modern people is completely changed they consider bitcoin as their future currency and that is why they are trying to buy bitcoin and we can see that the demand of bitcoin is continuously increase which is a also causing the increase i price of bitcoin.

Spending is the only way to increase the Bifcoin prices and we have to respect those who use Bitcoin for various purposes, especially traders. They are the one who help to increase the prices of Bitcoin.

Nice comparison to other virtual commodity/item or stuff. Indeed, some are very expensive compared to bitcoin as I am also familiar with Second Life.It is the demand and opportunity that makes this crypto continue to rise.

Nothing is too expensive for a digital item.  The only thing that matters is the market cap, and the market cap for Bitcoin is obviously much lower than the value of any fiat currency. 

What people don't understand is that the value of virtual items is just whatever people give them.  Online fiat spending is still just numbers on a screen, what matters is what it represents.  Fiat currencies aren't always even backed up by gold anymore - in the UK, for example, there are far less gold reserves than before, but this has not automatically resulted in inflation.

Digital Scarcity huh. That's a great narrative.  ;D

It's a convincing and conclusive explanation. Unlike the other usual explanations/introductions, I've seen
(mathematical formulas, software programs, network, etcetera.)  ;D

Splendid analogy and comparisons. At least it'd help me better explain what bitcoin is, for those curious friends.  ;D Thx!

I don't understand why some people always attach significance to price, if you are using Bitcoin most transactions you have discount especially on purse.io and others. It is cheaper to use Bitcoin nowadays

You definitely nailed it with your analogy and explanation. I usually have that question when I'm talking with my friends about BTC. They can't believe that an online currency is worth a thousand dollars and its price still continues to increase as time goes by. I'll use your examples when they ask me about it again. I know that some of them played those games and there's a high chance that they also know those items with high value.

these are good examples. i am going to include them in my answers whenever i am trying to tell someone about bitcoin and they have a hard time understanding why bitcoin is expensive and is going to be more expensive as times passes by.

ARE YOU SERIOUS? Those servers can go down anytime, why are they valuing those items at those prices? If there was a scam worse than altcoins then those are it! The good thing is it could make us more optimistic with Bitcoin even if it has its limitations. If a sword from Age of Wulin can be valued at 16,000 dollars then so will the first revolutionary cryptocurrency.

That is right, those people who are more often complains that bitcoin is very expensive for being a virtual item then they didn't know how bitcoin works and what are the advantages of using it. If they will just study how bitcoin does it works then they will realize that they are wrong because in my opinion, the price of an item depends on its value or what are the good things in it just like bitcoin it have a lot of features like anonymity,volatility and it is virtual so i just need internet to do transactions.

Those people who said that bitcoin is very expensive are actually right. But thats the one thing we love about bitcoin its increasing value. I dont mind people talking and criticizing about bitcoin but the important thing is that bitcoin gives me extra profit and has made my life free from debt. Bitcoin has changed my life and those people who are against bitcoin will just regret in time when bitcoin will be accepted in almost every shop in the world.

Nowadays, as there is no World War or huge economic crisis, people tend to believe the virtual reality even more than the real world. I'll gave you an example. Once I made a soup and it looked dark blue to me and my mate. When we made a photo of it to send  to our friend, it looked red, just like it had to look like. And a friend said that rather our eyes have mistaken percieving the color than a camera.
That's why nowadays bitcoin costs a lot, just like other virtual things. And there is nothing wrong about it. It just shows that people believe in science and IT.

If those people are paying bills for the internet connection or television connection then they have no right to make a complaint about the price of cryptocurrencies. It's not about the digital item or something like that. It's all about mutual trust that a particular thing posses. If we apply their logic then selling $10 worth of items for a paper note (written $10 on it) is also expensive.

The price of bitcoin is really expensive because it is not your ordinary digital item. It has it's own market and it's value is very volatile. You can actually earn from it and use it as an investment compare to the other digital items that you can buy online. You;ll never know if you buy bitcoin now and keep it, after a year or two its value might double.