Why is bitcoin (crypto) worth anything at all??

[inoes]

Oh, a smurf account starts a topic in economics, this must be entertaining

"Pleasing people" may not be a suitable term for "fulfilling needs/wants" of people but yeah, hard work alone without satisfying any demand would be meaningless.
About the worth of goods/services, it's all subjective and created from collective subjective valuations from people. In the beginning there was no price, but enough users think that BTC is valuable. After there is an initial price, there is price memory, and snowballed until forever or not enough people think that BTC is valuable.

Elonmusk only posts about BTC and makes memes, but it's easy for people to be led to what Elonmusk wants.  Elon was the one who created prices by hypnotizing market trends, he earned the public's name and trust because of the doge pump incident.  so all can have a price if anyone wants it.  including bitcoin can have such a high price because there are those who want to buy it

[nightrider]

Because bitcoin is recognized as a kind of digital gold, allowing money transfers, cross-border transactions and settlement of valuable exchanges quickly. In some countries, bitcoin provides an “escape” for citizens concerned about financial instability.

[Snappycoco]

Trust. That is the main reason why people accepts and holding BTC knowing it could be more scarce that ever. Just like trusting your government, any currency are backed by governments assurance that it has its value and also backed by countries economic status. Meanwhile, some crypto have their own price due to its utility.

[tulusikhlas]

simple like this.
why is there food? because to survive
why are there clothes? because to cover the body
why are there drinks? because to quench thirst
why is there money? because to exchange it for need
why are there bitcoins? because someone wants it
why is it worth it? as demand increases
what happens when the demand for Bitcoin decreases? then the price of Bitcoin will automatically fall.

Isn't YIN - Yang the concept of what exists in this world?
everything must have a partner. good or bad, negative and positive impact.

Isn't everything designed so beautifully?

[geegaw]

Because bitcoin is recognized as a kind of digital gold, allowing money transfers, cross-border transactions and settlement of valuable exchanges quickly. In some countries, bitcoin provides an “escape” for citizens concerned about financial instability.

Knowing that what you say is correct but on the government list, bitcoin is becoming an unused product, maybe some countries are accepting it but compared with many countries denying, it is not a significant number and can reverse this denial, so bitcoin's value didn't come from recognition when the government didn't consider it legal. Maybe some belief brainwashing created such values, regardless of the characteristics and origin of bitcoin, we are still buying without paying attention to the basic information of the product

[The Sceptical Chymist]

So countries can’t print more money that solves nothing.... but somehow one person can make hundreds of people rich simply by a tweet?? I don't get it..like I said a strange, strange world indeed.

OP, I'm not sure that it's you not understanding the nature of money that's the problem.  The issue is that we're living in a very weird time when things like you described above can happen, and to me it indicates that there's way too much money floating around and people are playing with it instead of using it for essentials or saving it.  Doge going to $1 is similar to Game Stop stock going to whatever its recent high was; both are completely irrational happenings, but they happened because there's this kind of gambling fever hitting the world--except it's not at the casinos but in the stock and crypto markets.

Also, if you're interested in actually learning about money there are tons of books you can read on the subject.  I'm still finishing Digital Gold by Nathaniel Popper, and it gives a good account of how bitcoin got to be thought of as a real currency (and it gives a great history of the early days of bitcoin as well). 

Anyway, the things that are likely in bubbles right now (doge, stocks, whatever) aren't all forms of money but assets.  Even doge is considered an asset and not money by the US government, though we tend to think of it as a currency. 

The real problem you're facing boils down to this: economics is hard.

For some people, yes.  I'd argue that majoring in economics in college is easier than, say, physics, chemistry, mathematics, pharmacy, or engineering.  It depends on how smart you are and--probably more importantly--how interested you are in the subject.

[wxa7115]

Trust. That is the main reason why people accepts and holding BTC knowing it could be more scarce that ever. Just like trusting your government, any currency are backed by governments assurance that it has its value and also backed by countries economic status. Meanwhile, some crypto have their own price due to its utility.

It is weird that you say this because in fact it is kind of ironic, the current financial system is based on trust, there is just one small little problem, governments and central banks break that trust all the time and this is a historical fact.

Bitcoin derives some of its value precisely because trust is not necessary and instead uses math to verify everything, and ironically this generates trust in people, for example we do not really know how much money is printed by a government, we are told that it was a certain amount but they could have printed more and there is no way to know if this is true or not, but in the case of bitcoin we know exactly how many coins are created daily, we also know the amount of those coins that will ever exist, which before bitcoin it was something that no currency around the world ever had.

[qwertyup23]

Just to answer some of your questions, printing money would result to hyperinflation. This would render the value of the currency almost as worthless due to the supply of money in circulation while having little demand. Like what happened to Zimbabwe, their currencies are denominated at 'one hundred trillion dollars' but its value is relatively low due to its ongoing over supply in the market.

The value of cryptocurrencies depend on how much money people are willing to pay for it. Although it may sound easier than it looks, the potential of cryptocurrencies as the future of transactions is starting. People are taking into consideration the value of the blockchain technology and its modern usage in shaping the future of all the transactions made.

[Btcvilla]

I do not know how you think about all this . Too simple thinking like that. How is it possible for the state to print cash at will and then distribute it for free by the public. LOL If so, there will be no more people who want to try. Maybe now there is no bitcoin because if that were the case, it would happen

[Yamifoud]

We can't solve any problem if never find a solution to it but never think that all the possible solutions could work, no, sometimes it won't. Just like OP said, we have to print millions of paper money to give to the poor people, that actually it never works coz it only makes people become lazy as they know the government will provide them, unlike if you are going to work hard and earn some money, you can appreciate the value of it.
Just like seeing Bitcoin, it reaches that price because it was important to the people. You can never change the system, even digital currencies are just the representation of something, they still become valuable assets.

[ningrum]

I do not know how you think about all this . Too simple thinking like that. How is it possible for the state to print cash at will and then distribute it for free by the public. LOL If so, there will be no more people who want to try. Maybe now there is no bitcoin because if that were the case, it would happen

That's too ridiculous and just imagine if any country did that I think it would actually cause a bigger problem,
of course it will be inflation other than that currency has no value anymore

[Obito]

I do not know how you think about all this . Too simple thinking like that. How is it possible for the state to print cash at will and then distribute it for free by the public. LOL If so, there will be no more people who want to try. Maybe now there is no bitcoin because if that were the case, it would happen

The printing of fiat I think is sanctioned by the state before being printed and introduced to circulation, the reason that we are like that is because we don't see how big the scale of money that is destroyed and removed out of circulation. I think that it's a bit different than bitcoin because bitcoin has a worth because it's being traded.

[wxa7115]

I do not know how you think about all this . Too simple thinking like that. How is it possible for the state to print cash at will and then distribute it for free by the public. LOL If so, there will be no more people who want to try. Maybe now there is no bitcoin because if that were the case, it would happen

The OP eventually learned that this was not possible but you have no idea how many times I have heard people that I consider to be smart say things like ‘if the government printed one million dollars for each person then everyone will be a millionaire and no one will be poor again’.

Those people do not understand that money is not the issue here, money is nothing more but a representation of value, if you give so much of that monopoly money away but the production of goods and services does not increase then you have a lot more money chasing for the same products and services increasing the price you need to pay for them and ending their utopia of fake millionaires.

[AndySt]

I do not know how you think about all this . Too simple thinking like that. How is it possible for the state to print cash at will and then distribute it for free by the public. LOL If so, there will be no more people who want to try. Maybe now there is no bitcoin because if that were the case, it would happen

The OP eventually learned that this was not possible but you have no idea how many times I have heard people that I consider to be smart say things like ‘if the government printed one million dollars for each person then everyone will be a millionaire and no one will be poor again’.
Those people do not understand that money is not the issue here, money is nothing more but a representation of value, if you give so much of that monopoly money away but the production of goods and services does not increase then you have a lot more money chasing for the same products and services increasing the price you need to pay for them and ending their utopia of fake millionaires.

I would be interested to see these "smart" people who believe that just mechanical printing of empty money will make everyone rich and well-off It's just that such thoughts are usually inherent in people who do not understand the essence of the issue or do not want to understand it for some reason. People who are fans of simple solutions and simply do not represent the consequences of such simple decisions. People who believe that the experience of previous generations is worthless and everything is done and done wrong. Money is not such a simple thing and does not forgive a frivolous attitude towards oneself.

[Caldear]

Bitcoin represented by blockchain technology has brought tremendous changes to the world. Bitcoin has great value due to its scarcity, ang many institutions now use Bitcoin, which has greatly increased the price of Bitcoin. Bitcoin brings a lot of profits to investors and allows people to achieve wealth freedom. As people's consensus on cryptocurrency increases, the development of cryptocurrency will be better.

[RealMalatesta]

I would be interested to see these "smart" people who believe that just mechanical printing of empty money will make everyone rich and well-off It's just that such thoughts are usually inherent in people who do not understand the essence of the issue or do not want to understand it for some reason. People who are fans of simple solutions and simply do not represent the consequences of such simple decisions. People who believe that the experience of previous generations is worthless and everything is done and done wrong. Money is not such a simple thing and does not forgive a frivolous attitude towards oneself.

Any person who disregards inflation while calculating, even on default and off the top of their head without thinking through, like even on the surface, is an idiot. However, know the fact that there are enough money in the world to redistribute and give everyone a million dollars, that part is very true. So why should we do it?

Well I don't have a million dollars and some other guy have a lot, top 400 of the world has 3.2 trillion dollars, distribute that alone and you got yourself over 3 million people covered, just with the richest 400 people, think about all the nations and governments and treasury and every single person who has more than one million dollars and take that and give it to everyone who has less than a million dollars. I am not saying doing this is a good idea, it is not, but it is possible and suddenly you literally created equality.

[jaysabi]

I would be interested to see these "smart" people who believe that just mechanical printing of empty money will make everyone rich and well-off It's just that such thoughts are usually inherent in people who do not understand the essence of the issue or do not want to understand it for some reason. People who are fans of simple solutions and simply do not represent the consequences of such simple decisions. People who believe that the experience of previous generations is worthless and everything is done and done wrong. Money is not such a simple thing and does not forgive a frivolous attitude towards oneself.

Any person who disregards inflation while calculating, even on default and off the top of their head without thinking through, like even on the surface, is an idiot. However, know the fact that there are enough money in the world to redistribute and give everyone a million dollars, that part is very true. So why should we do it?

Well I don't have a million dollars and some other guy have a lot, top 400 of the world has 3.2 trillion dollars, distribute that alone and you got yourself over 3 million people covered, just with the richest 400 people, think about all the nations and governments and treasury and every single person who has more than one million dollars and take that and give it to everyone who has less than a million dollars. I am not saying doing this is a good idea, it is not, but it is possible and suddenly you literally created equality.

There are about 7.9 billion people in the world.  Giving everyone 1 million dollars would take 7.9 quadrillion dollars.  There is not more than 7.9 quadrillion dollars in the world, therefore your assumption that there is enough to redistribute $1 million to everyone in the world is wrong.

There is an estimated 360 trillion dollars of wealth in the entire world, which is nowhere near 7.9 quadrillion.

[wxa7115]

I do not know how you think about all this . Too simple thinking like that. How is it possible for the state to print cash at will and then distribute it for free by the public. LOL If so, there will be no more people who want to try. Maybe now there is no bitcoin because if that were the case, it would happen

The OP eventually learned that this was not possible but you have no idea how many times I have heard people that I consider to be smart say things like ‘if the government printed one million dollars for each person then everyone will be a millionaire and no one will be poor again’.
Those people do not understand that money is not the issue here, money is nothing more but a representation of value, if you give so much of that monopoly money away but the production of goods and services does not increase then you have a lot more money chasing for the same products and services increasing the price you need to pay for them and ending their utopia of fake millionaires.

I would be interested to see these "smart" people who believe that just mechanical printing of empty money will make everyone rich and well-off It's just that such thoughts are usually inherent in people who do not understand the essence of the issue or do not want to understand it for some reason. People who are fans of simple solutions and simply do not represent the consequences of such simple decisions. People who believe that the experience of previous generations is worthless and everything is done and done wrong. Money is not such a simple thing and does not forgive a frivolous attitude towards oneself.

People have different fields of knowledge, I may know about technology and economics but if I were to try to do a surgery then my incompetence will soon become obvious to anyone that has any knowledge about the subject.

And the same is true here, the problem is why are people so ignorant about how the economy works? And to me it is clear that this is exactly the way governments like it, after all it is way easier to make people part with their money and all the effort they needed to acquire it if they do not know anything about it, while for the people that know what is up like us not only have the tendency to save but to do so in hard assets like bitcoin that they cannot inflate away.