What is bitcoin backed by?

[odolvlobo]

The problem with this question is that nobody agrees on what "backed by" means.

To me, if a currency is "backed by" something, it means that the currency is guaranteed to always maintain a certain tangible value. For example, a gold-backed currency is guaranteed to always be worth a certain amount of gold.

By that definition, fiat currencies are backed by nothing and Bitcoin is backed by nothing. On the other hand, USTD is backed by dollars (as long as Tether remains honest and solvent).

Currencies that are "backed by the full faith and credit of the government", "backed by the military", or "backed by its users" are not really backed by anything.

[cconnerstelco]

People believe bitcoin is backed by nothing. I think that is not the truth. I believe bitcoin is actually backed by people themselves. It is backed by none other than just you. We all witnessed the price has been fluctuating by all those FUDs and bad news. The price changes by emotion and non logical facts. I believe you hold bitcoin no matter what happened and would happen, and believe it is backed by all of us, it would make a history. 

Thats the point. Its backed by people. My usual retort is what is the USD backed by? They say the government and my response is "what is the governemnt backed by? The obvious answer is people. So in reality bitcoin and world currencies really are the same. If USD was still backed by the gold standard then all the haters would have a valid point. But that was always cryptos point, I can invent a currency and pay you in it, if you take it, it has value. The simple act of me paying you in that currency that was invented by a random person means that all currencies derive their value from people and therefore the entire system of monetary value is just one big joke.

[Sadlife]

That is also true, a currency is nothing without it's investors and users but bitcoin price is actually backed up by miners those who mines bitcoin using peer to peer network and they are rewarded in every block that they solve and also they process transactions that is taking place in the blockchain in exchange for transaction fee and the result it makes btc price stronger or even higher.

[latchookart]

Most Bitcoin naysayers I know are obsessed with the fact that it's not "backed" by anything, and the fact that it does not have the blessing of the United States government. I'll usually let them know that most currencies, including US dollars, also have no inherent value other than what we perceive them to have based on what the government says they are worth. They are essentially "faith-based".

[luckydevil2021]

I like the fact that bitcoins alone are worthless. The thing that gives them value is the payment network they live in. So bitcoins are backed by the worlds first global permissionless trustless payment network (the bitcoin network).

Bitcoins are backed by the only global blockchain payment network that has become so successful it is having trouble scaling fast enough.

Scaling issues are a great problem to have. If we didn't have scaling issues bitcoins wouldn't be worth as much as they are today, simply because the demand wouldn't exist to create a scaling problem.

In that respect, not scaling bitcoin will limit the price growth. But once scaling has been implemented the price can continue to grow with demand for using the network.

On a side note. Ether is backed by the ethereum network. It could then also be posited that dollars are backed by the united states financial system, haha I know which system I'm betting on lasting through the next decade.

[Vaskiy]

They were backed by the network which is operational with the blockchain technology. It doesn't have any backing similar to the gold or the other investments available around the globe. The algorithms and the open sourced flawless codings were the real backing asset for bitcoin.

[gowobonyok]

obviously if people who invest in bitcoin are the ones that support bitcoin. indirectly they make demands with increased bitcoin and keep supply decreasing. market cap increases and makes the possibility of bitcoin rising to become larger.

[aeternus]

Bitcoin is likely to undergo gradual deflation over time, given its limited emissions of 21 million coins. As a result, under the laws of supply and demand, most likely, the value of coins will constantly grow.

Only if you assume that demand grows.

The other way for the price of bitcoin to keep growing even if the demand does not grow is that bitcoins keep being lost that way the supply of the equation gets lower and the price goes up, even if in the short term this is not going to have a great effect over a long period of time the number of coins available will go down because people will lose their private keys or seed words.

[Lorence.xD]

Basically, it is backed by the code (which is mostly impregnable), people's trust in it and the fact of decentralization.

Bitcoin is Virtual currency or crypto digital currency, it backed by Capital Investment put in by Investors in the crypto trading market, after the entry of crypto currency in 2009 Bitcoin been attack by a lot of issues, like issues on Banned, Scammer, Hacking, and the never ending issue on Regulation by the government financial institution whom critical on the acceptance of Digital Transaction using Bitcoin, But the good news are, people had increase the desire to participate and invested a lot on Bitcoin.

[kenziefried]

It has use. It has an extremely powerful network securing your transactions and wealth. Yes, the speculative nature is leading, but that's something we can't do anything about -- we just have to go through the initial hype to have it pay off later on. Bitcoin is new, people explore it, abuse it, speculate, it will at some point decrease significantly where the use will turn out to be the leading aspect. Bitcoin is money for me. If I have something for sale I gladly pick Bitcoin over anything else. If I can pay with Bitcoin I gladly do so. I am slowly shifting away from all this speculation nonsense....

Agree. Bitcoin has real uses in the mainstream world, and it's one of the most resilient assets to date. Given that it has top-notch security, and transparency, I'd say that Bitcoin is somewhat better than Gold. Also, it's extremely portable (unlike Gold) and it's backed by the people. That's what really gives value to Bitcoin, and most cryptocurrencies in existence despite what many say in the mainstream media. Of course, Bitcoin is a volatile asset, but it may soon become stable as the market becomes regulated over time.

Best of all, Bitcoin is not only money, but also a store of value, giving you the option to hold onto your balances securely and cash out at a higher price in the future due to its limited supply. And once it becomes useful for micropayments with the Lightning Network, then it'll be much better than fiat currencies. Therefore, Bitcoin will remain backed by the people if it maintains its decentralized nature. Just my thoughts

We do not know actually that when will it come to a stable price because the market after 9 long years of survival is still unstable. All the signs are at the demand rate, when it gains its strong support from people then the price may get stable. Promotions are contributing to its growth which is the main solution to increase the demand rate which will in turn increase the value.

[Pinoyfan]

People believe bitcoin is backed by nothing. I think that is not the truth. I believe bitcoin is actually backed by people themselves. It is backed by none other than just you. We all witnessed the price has been fluctuating by all those FUDs and bad news. The price changes by emotion and non logical facts. I believe you hold bitcoin no matter what happened and would happen, and believe it is backed by all of us, it would make a history. 

The only one to invest in cryptocurrency that they are respectable with cryptocurrency. Cause I support that you can do on your savings and the market will continue. Cause we have been a good job of cryptocurrency. I believe in that bitcoin is a start, and technology.

[Abiky]

We do not know actually that when will it come to a stable price because the market after 9 long years of survival is still unstable. All the signs are at the demand rate, when it gains its strong support from people then the price may get stable. Promotions are contributing to its growth which is the main solution to increase the demand rate which will in turn increase the value.

That's certainly true, mate. Bitcoin has always been a highly volatile or unstable cryptocurrency ever since its inception in 2009. However, I believe that time will come when Bitcoin and most cryptocurrencies on the market will become stable in price, as regulations from government become enforced over time. With this in effect, there will be no more price manipulations from whales, and Bitcoin would be much more stable than what it is right now. On the other hand, the more demand it gets from people around the world, the better as its value will rise in a flash.

As such, I believe that Bitcoin being backed by the people is actually more of a good thing than a bad thing. This is because, there's no central authority which is responsible of giving it a standard value to it, as well as being able to control its supply, making Bitcoin an open cryptocurrency for the masses. Therefore, Bitcoin may perform well in the next couple of years if people keep supporting it every step of the way. Just my opinion

[Honuandhonu]

Actually bitcoin is backed by peoples trust on this coin, as an example usdt isn't backed by enything it's the trust people have on it. If people think it's useless and stop using then it has no value, so is the bitcoin.

[nazaididuan1]

BTC support is a good application for those who trust BTC and blockchain technology in the future!
As long as someone believes in BTC, Btc has value!

[breathlessz]

BTC support is a good application for those who trust BTC and blockchain technology in the future!
As long as someone believes in BTC, Btc has value!

right, the blockchain system provides a decentralized and transparent system, so we can transfer directly to friends. so make faster proccess and transparent, so this is the development for alternative currencies later

[sumanto]

I think bitcoin backed by nothing, bitcoin stand-alone bitcoin is only accompanied by a technology called blockchain which is tasked to provide records for all existing transactions that use bitcoin.

[kisscoin]

I would definitely keep bitcoin, if I had it) However, I believe in it and it is clearly supported by the people themselves and if you do not lose faith and do not panic on the little things, selling your coins at every negative opinion, then the world of cryptocurrency will soar to unimaginable heights! And the sooner people realize it, the sooner it will happen! 

[andika2018]

Fiat money like US dollar backup by government trust. Like dollar, bitcoin backup by community trust and thats why bitcoin is peer to peer transaction. If peoples dont trust on their government, their currency value must be drop and its apply on bitcoin too

[Andrew S]

People believe bitcoin is backed by nothing. I think that is not the truth. I believe bitcoin is actually backed by people themselves. It is backed by none other than just you. We all witnessed the price has been fluctuating by all those FUDs and bad news. The price changes by emotion and non logical facts. I believe you hold bitcoin no matter what happened and would happen, and believe it is backed by all of us, it would make a history. 

Bitcoin is not supported by anything, that's why it is so unstable and it causes people's distrust.

[Vs225655]

So really the price for bitcoin is set by us people. But as the majority of bitcoins have written here, they are concentrated in business whales and they can easily speculate on the price of it.