What gives Bitcoin its value?

[imadmirer]

Bitcoin can certainly be considered as a currency but now with heavy investments, it is also a serious asset that people own. It is an equivalent to property or gold for that matter. With more trading and investment in this digital currency, the value is only soaring higher and higher. No doubt, we may as well see a new high in its price this year.

But what gives this invisible Bitcoin its value? It is most sought after asset now with immense money being invested. Is it the nature of it being a currency or the nature of it being an investment? The most interesting thing is that most people are gradually shifting towards the use of this decentralized currency. It is true that the comparison with fiat currency draws its estimated value. But the large investments suggest that it is going to grow only bigger and bigger in size and stature.

As BTC is becoming more and more used, the markets take to a compulsion of accepting BTC as a form of currency in exchange of the good and services. It is indeed interesting to note how Bitcoin in spite of all criticism is only proving to be that of a great success.

[Wheelige]

Bitcoin gets its value from people, believing that it has value. As you said this value can appear in a number of ways. Some people view it as currency in which they can transact in every day life, this means that an increase in speed of transactions and low cost of transactions would likely increase its value for these people. Other people now see it as a store or wealth, as you said like a digital gold, and for these people having it be secure and accepted by enough people will give it value. I would go as far as to say that speculators can give it value by believing that it will make gains. The value of Bitcoin is cumulative of all the value ascribed by its holders.
With more places accepting Bitcoin and if the lightning network or segwit goes through we will likely see further value added to Bitcoin for all three above groups. One day we may realise Satoshi's vision.

[atrocityx]

Bitcoin can certainly be considered as a currency but now with heavy investments, it is also a serious asset that people own. It is an equivalent to property or gold for that matter. With more trading and investment in this digital currency, the value is only soaring higher and higher. No doubt, we may as well see a new high in its price this year.

But what gives this invisible Bitcoin its value? It is most sought after asset now with immense money being invested. Is it the nature of it being a currency or the nature of it being an investment? The most interesting thing is that most people are gradually shifting towards the use of this decentralized currency. It is true that the comparison with fiat currency draws its estimated value. But the large investments suggest that it is going to grow only bigger and bigger in size and stature.

As BTC is becoming more and more used, the markets take to a compulsion of accepting BTC as a form of currency in exchange of the good and services. It is indeed interesting to note how Bitcoin in spite of all criticism is only proving to be that of a great success.

I think the fact that its the primary liaison between cash and alt coins on its own give its a very high valuation and will continue brining up eth as well.... and with decentralized exchanges coming in with the threat of more legislation, this will drive it even higher (since the only way to legislate bitcoin is at the entry and exit points and people who already have bitcoin won't be interested in selling easily).... Id say its just a store of value and easily transferrable with 100% verifiable purchases its 2nd use case.. Gold for example is a commodity as well.. sure it has a use case that is more than a store of value, but its store of value price isn't based off of what it can do.. its just an established price of what people are willing to pay for it.. People will also argue that bitcoin as a store of value can't be spent anywhere.. and I tend to think this is mainly true.. just like you can't go into a store and buy things with gold bars. I agree that its price is mainly based off of what people are willing to pay for it and the sky really is the limit.. people tend to follow others in decisions.. so bitcoin will be more sought after the more expensive it becomes.... kind of ironic how that works....


https://draftin.com/documents/232367?token=aYIVoQXQ_GpNo6tZq0N9TBylYigqdEdV2S4cEOKJ_HQgSuPMMRm1Rs5HmiU5roPqw44mc5ouSuSuXL5_GSfojFY  heres an article I found with some very specific use cases for bitcoin other than the obvious two.

[loraalbert]

Honestly, investing bitcoin is like investing in gold, gems. However, the value of bitcoin is not limited. Because, the bitcoin value is expressed in usefulness and convenience with peer to peer settings and not through any intermediaries. So if many people use bitcoin or apply it to fields or projects then the value of bitcoin is almost infinite.

[camito]

Bitcoin gets its value from people, believing that it has value. As you said this value can appear in a number of ways. Some people view it as currency in which they can transact in every day life, this means that an increase in speed of transactions and low cost of transactions would likely increase its value for these people. Other people now see it as a store or wealth, as you said like a digital gold, and for these people having it be secure and accepted by enough people will give it value. I would go as far as to say that speculators can give it value by believing that it will make gains. The value of Bitcoin is cumulative of all the value ascribed by its holders.
With more places accepting Bitcoin and if the lightning network or segwit goes through we will likely see further value added to Bitcoin for all three above groups. One day we may realise Satoshi's vision.

Yes I agree with this. We people or what we call the market gives bitcoin its value. We believe that it has a value. We invest in bitcoin cause we believe that we can make profit from it. More people who believe that bitcoin's price will rise, more people to invest in it making it to have high/higher value/price. More people doubts bitcoin, less people invest in it, meaning less value for bitcoin. In short, our beliefs in bitcoins value makes its value. We make our bitcoin's value. It's value is up to us, whether we consider it as an asset or a currency, its value will always be up to us.

[Viellefox1025]

Bitcoin is not like cash or gold that is generally accepted by all. The value of it is the willingness of parties to accept it.

Please read this article for more detailed dicussion on it.
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/100314/why-do-bitcoins-have-value.asp

[nightmanisrightman]

You all had good answers but I believe the real answer lies in the POW system and the miners. Through that we can achieve consensus and have an immutable distributed ledger which in turn makes Bitcoin a secure network. It is that security and energy of the system that give Bitcoin its price imo.

[amwer]

Cryptocurrency is a new revolutionary type of currency. Like any other currency or unit of account, they only have value because people think it has value. Some currencies are backed by gold or other precious metals; others are backed by nothing but hot air although have value because people think it has value and use it as a unit of exchange.

[levvv]

Bitcoin has a big value because the coin supply is very limited.
If the demands keep increasing, bitcoin price is even more increasing.

[linkybit]

Normally its supply and demand, if there is a good news like a big country regulate the bitcoin then this news will add the value to bitcoin as more people start investing in it and this brings more demand for bitcoin.

[akdperry]

I've struggled with this topic when trying to explain bitcoin to friends.  they literally will ask why it is worth money.  I often times struggle to come up with a good answer, however I know why it has value.  It's because we all believe it is worth something.  It is a way to circumvent the banks and not give all the wealth to the rich.  It gives us a way to have a ledger for all transactions that occur using bitcoin. but more than that it spurred a movement, it has opened up countless financial opportunities for new businesses and technologies.  

[zomgmike]

Bitcoin offers an efficient means of transferring money over the internet and is controlled by a decentralized network with a transparent set of rules, thus presenting an alternative to central bank controlled fiat money.  The dollar has intrinsic value because you need dollars to pay taxes in the United States. The government accepts no other currency. So if you're going to engage in any kind of commerce whatsoever, you need to use dollars. This creates real value for the currency. Gold has real value because it's shiny and can be used for jewelry. Other commodities get their value from industrial purposes.

Similar to the dollar having value for paying taxes or gold having value for jewelry, Bitcoin has real value for private transactions, evading government restrictions, and making secure online transactions.  Because it can do these things better than traditional currency or payment processors, it has inherent value.

[nawosecad68]

Many people who want to make a quick transaction and bitcoin can realize that expectation. That is the value of bitcoin, even many who invest despite the many risks that must be borne. The more bitcoin users, the more it makes the bitcoin of high value.

[h0lybyte]

Fiat currencies obtain their values by government's backup but bicoin is a considerably used digital currency, it fills the urge among people to do something creative with its use and every day a numerous number of people get inspired by reading about bitcoin's history, when more people are inspired, the demand gets increased and supply becomes limited, demand is the source of bitcoin value

[krishnapramod]

It is true that the comparison with fiat currency draws its estimated value.

As BTC is becoming more and more used, the markets take to a compulsion of accepting BTC as a form of currency in exchange of the good and services. It is indeed interesting to note how Bitcoin in spite of all criticism is only proving to be that of a great success.

Like gold, Bitcoin's supply is limited and durable, digital gold and like fiat, its divisible and portable, currency, it's the potential future of Bitcoin, but now realistically what gives it value is its price, more of speculation, people investing expecting its price to go up, so IMO it's entirely true that currently Bitcoin derives its value from the possibility to trade it for fiat, not a realistic value.

The real valuation/usefulness of Bitcoin is in its properties as money, store of value, medium of exchange, and unit of account.

[pentol86]

bitcoin can be used for transaction, without a bank, keep anonymous. also bitcoin can be used for investment, but with high risk. the choice is depends from user as bitcoin holder

[kiver]

best thing about bitcoin that it was here first as a crypto currency so no coin can replace that bitcoin value based on many things but i think the most important thing about bitcoin value is the world wide use, what i mean is the adoption is what's giving its value bitcoin is getting accepted from companies and big traders every day now last time i heard that KFC accepting bitcoin and even Microsoft getting back on the decision it make last month was great
the point is if you want a coin to gain a value try to make it do what is meant for 

[nikita_01]

There is not much you need for currency other then its total issuance is publicly known (i.e. limited edition) , and you can split it up easily. And, of course, it should itself not be an extra source of transaction costs, negating the whole premise. What’s important to note is this, nothing “gives” currency value.

“Backed” by gold or the treasury boils down to ensuring the limited edition part is held up for fiat currencies. Gold inherits scarcity (not value) from mining rates, treasury from laws, bitcoin from maths. Melting value did not “give” currency value, the ECB does not “give” the euro value. Limiting and advertising the (growth rate) of total issuance enables more valuable trades. In a sense, a gold coin, the US dollar, the bitcoin, and all other thinkable currencies are “backed” by additional intersubjective trading opportunities.

[boakyei]

The value of bitcoins depend on mining difficulties and miners behavior. The demand and supply of bitcoins is also a factor, and the regulators, bankers and governments posture toward bitcoins all determines the value of bitcoins.

[cynical]

Bitcoin gets its value firstly from what it offers and It offers many things,

* A means of storing a degree of wealth which is not readily traceable by banks.
This has many advantages a few I have outlined as follows.
if in a time of economic or financial crisis banks decide they cannot make your FIAT funds available to you what can we do,
we are powerless. As soon as we hand over our FIAT to banks we are at their mercy.
Another advantage is that because bitcoin and crypto are not traceable if we get into personal financial difficulty and have to declare our assets,
our digital assets cannot be traced so we dont have to declare them.

* A peer-to-peer payment system without the need of any bank.
we control our digital funds and do not need to TRUST banks with our funds.

Secondly Bitcoin gets its value from the people who can see the benefit of what I outlined above as well as its potential future value,
speculation I suppose we can call it. So the buying and selling of Bitcoin currency also adds to its value.
We speculate on many things in our lives so this is nothing negative.