Hey! Let me pick up a rock and let's buy it from each other...

[15days]

Isn't that basically what bitcoin is?

We can hardly buy anything with it. We just give it value for the sake of giving it value.

Matter of fact, let's do just that for the heck of it, see how far we can go with it. I'll pick up a rock and call it Akorn and put it up for $10. I'll buy it back for $10 and let's see how much it'd be worth by the end of the year.

[DdmrDdmr]

That’s more or less what they did in the Yap islands, where stone disks known as Rai are used as a currency, where the value came not only from the size of the stone, but from the age and dangers related to the mining procedure in nearby islands, and transport (no fungibility there).

Back in the days of University, I recall reading that the richest man on the island was one who claimed to have a massive stone as such, but that it sank during transport. Regardless, people believed him, and trusted his word, making him one of the richer men of the island at the time.

Trust is the centre core of Rai, just as bitcoin, but bitcoin also has Bitcoin, which is the network that gives support to bitcoin, providing a basis for a whole array of development and business that run on top of it. Bitcoin (capital B) give bitcoin (lowercap b) a whole more, and makes it far better that Rai …

See: https://flockeo.com/en/yap-the-island-where-people-pay-in-stone-money/

[Kittygalore]

Trust is the centre core of Rai, just as bitcoin, but bitcoin also has Bitcoin, which is the network that gives support to bitcoin, providing a basis for a whole array of development and business that run on top of it. Bitcoin (capital B) give bitcoin (lowercap b) a whole more, and makes it far better that Rai …

See: https://flockeo.com/en/yap-the-island-where-people-pay-in-stone-money/

Wait, there's difference between bitcoin and Bitcoin? I thought that it was all for formality and sake of being grammatically correct? Also, this old stuff in regards to putting value is old school, that's the basis to almost anything, gold doesn't have a value, we just love shiny things so how is it different to bitcoin? Are you bitter OP that you never bought bitcoin at a low price that's why you are saying this?

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Wait, there's difference between bitcoin and Bitcoin?

All lower-case 'bitcoin' is a bastardization used by far too many newbies who think that all crypto coins are called "Bitcoin". Rather like calling all facial tissue 'Kleenex' or all soda pop 'Coke' (both all too commonly heard in the US). Of course that is WRONG because those words/names are very specific variations of things. Capitalized "Bitcoin" is the 1 specific coin represented by BTC and BTC.

I consider the naming confusion just a consequence of being the 1st or most popular coin (or facial tissue or soft drink).

[funsponge]

What are you trying to prove by comparing Bitcoin to a rock? There are obvious differences between your made up rock and Bitcoin. Bitcoin has the a Blockchain which is different to the current fiat currencies which do not have a public ledger which means Bitcoin is more transparent than other currencies. What does your rock offer that is better than fiat?

[Haunebu]

Pointless comparison in my opinion. Can we use rocks as payment methods in certain sites? Can we use rocks to complete financial transactions anonymously without any sort of government interference?

If you think you've got BTC all figured out, you are delusional op. I advise doing some research before blurting out wild, nonsensical statements here and there.

Bitcoin has the a Blockchain which is different to the current fiat currencies which do not have a public ledger which means Bitcoin is more transparent than other currencies.

Exactly. He forgot about the unique and creative technology powering Bitcoin which many world governments openly appreciated over time.

[franky1]

well getting marble. or quartz has value. because its not just laying around on the ground for anyone to pick.
there are costs to quarry certain stone and so certain stone has different value due to this.

the more it costs to quarry. the more value it has

if gold was as easy to mine using a spoon and a coffee filter in everyones back yard for ~$2
gold would be selling from spot to speculative high of $2.01-$5

instead because of excavators, labour, diesel and sluice machines. gold sells at spot $900-$2000

bitcoin costs thousands to mine
it costs $~25k in china/iceland to mine.. and over $50k in germany/japan

so right now bitcoin is mid value, good purchase for some regions, as its cheaper to buy than to mine right now

as for the demand side.
well yes less merchants use bitcoin as of 2015. yes bitcoin had more merchants 2012-15 than it does now.
but the general population of users has increased since 2015.
its now moved from a attain bitcoin to buy things. to retain bitcoin to invest/lockup/hoard to then maybe use on other networks as collateral

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Speaking of the Yap stones, nice little article about that here. They call it the Original Idea of Bitcoin  

Here's a teaser from it,

Strange as it may seem, bitcoin has a kind of bizarro historical analogue in an ancient currency system dating back hundreds of years: giant stone disks called rai, which were used long ago as a symbolic form of money on the Micronesian island of Yap.

[dothebeats]

Isn’t that idea the same with the paper bills that you are using right now? We just ‘trusted’ the central authority that issues the paper bills that it is worth something, and that it can be traded into other things. Trust is technically the core foundation of value, as we ‘believe’ that something is worth anything based on our own perception. I can’t seem to find substance in this analogy of yours, OP, because if we go by with this analogy, we would question a lot of things as to why they have X amount of value today.

[xhomerx10]

Isn’t that idea the same with the paper bills that you are using right now? We just ‘trusted’ the central authority that issues the paper bills that it is worth something, and that it can be traded into other things. Trust is technically the core foundation of value, as we ‘believe’ that something is worth anything based on our own perception. I can’t seem to find substance in this analogy of yours, OP, because if we go by with this analogy, we would question a lot of things as to why they have X amount of value today.

 Yeah but they tricked us by pegging the value to a rock and then pulling the rock out from under it later!

[hatshepsut93]

He can hardly buy anything with it. We just give it value for the sake of giving it value.

You can hardly buy anything with gold, probably way less than with Bitcoin, yet it's still worth a lot. Bitcoin is a digital token that is secure in a way that no other digital asset is - Bitcoin does not rely on any third parties that must be trusted or can be ordered by government to freeze your money. Even if everyone who currently does stopped accepting Bitcoin as payment, it would still be worth a lot, because it's no longer solely a currency.

[Stalker22]

Isn't that basically what bitcoin is?

In principle, you are right. From that perspective, Bitcoin is not much different than rock except that, unlike rocks, the supply is limited to 21 million.
Let me know if you come across some rocks with a very limited supply. Oh wait, we already have rocks that fit that description; they're called diamonds! So how about we start comparing Bitcoin to diamonds?

[HairyPoppins]

Matter of fact, let's do just that for the heck of it, see how far we can go with it. I'll pick up a rock and call it Akorn and put it up for $10. I'll buy it back for $10 and let's see how much it'd be worth by the end of the year.

Sure, let's do it! Can you send your rock to my rock collection? Can you send a hundred rocks? How about a thousand?
(by the way, I live on the other side of the world)

[adzino]

Isn't that basically what bitcoin is?

He can hardly buy anything with it. We just give it value for the sake of giving it value.

Matter of fact, let's do just that for the heck of it, see how far we can go with it. I'll pick up a rock and call it Akorn and put it up for $10. I'll buy it back for $10 and let's see how much it'd be worth by the end of the year.

You are saying rocks have no value? Lol. Of course they have a value. Even a common rock has a value, but less than a cent because it can be found anywhere. So no. No one is going to buy your "Akorn" for $10. Why would they? They could literally pick a rock for almost free of cost (minus a little labor lol). But lets say, you found a piece of meteorite (meteorites are rock too ) and you want to sell it for $10. Someone is going to buy it and then sell it for $100. The more demand for your meteorite, the higher the price will go. Meteorites are hard to find, hence expensive.
So if bitcoin was like picking up a rock, it would be dirt cheap. But guess what, they aren't dirt cheap. Now, why is that? You will know if you try to learn about bitcoin and how the system works.

[aoluain]

Isn't that basically what bitcoin is?

He can hardly buy anything with it. We just give it value for the sake of giving it value.

Matter of fact, let's do just that for the heck of it, see how far we can go with it. I'll pick up a rock and call it Akorn and put it up for $10. I'll buy it back for $10 and let's see how much it'd be worth by the end of the year.

You are saying rocks have no value? Lol. Of course they have a value. Even a common rock has a value, but less than a cent because it can be found anywhere. So no. No one is going to buy your "Akorn" for $10. Why would they? They could literally pick a rock for almost free of cost (minus a little labor lol). But lets say, you found a piece of meteorite (meteorites are rock too ) and you want to sell it for $10. Someone is going to buy it and then sell it for $100. The more demand for your meteorite, the higher the price will go. Meteorites are hard to find, hence expensive.
So if bitcoin was like picking up a rock, it would be dirt cheap. But guess what, they aren't dirt cheap. Now, why is that? You will know if you try to learn about bitcoin and how the system works.

Exactly, we need to find out what type of rock the OP is talking about, is it Igneous,
sedimentary or metamorphic? I would hate to spend $10 on a rock and to find out that
its the same as the rocks in my back garden.

Thing is I cant just pick up a random Bitcoin in my back garden...

Where has the OP been? It is really difficult to not find out about the basics of Bitcoin.
I dont pretend to know everything about Bitcoin even my web pages are basic in their
information but I do know what gives Bitcoin its value!

As mentioned above its the cost of mining a Bitcoin, its the power of the network,
its the security of Bitcoin, it has never been hacked, its the limited supply and there are
a thousand other reasons why Bitcoin is where it is.

head over to @michael_saylor on twitter to get those thousand reasons....

Bitcoin is a swarm of cyber hornets serving the godess of wisdom, feeding on the fire of truth,
exponentially growing even smarter, faster and stronger behind a wall of encrypted energy

[kaggie]

If that rock is made of gold, silver, platinum, or diamond, I'll buy it from you for $10, assuming that it is fist sized or larger.
If it's a meteorite, geode or fossil, then I'd like to inspect it first.
The offer is also on the table for any other rock that has a present market value well above $10.

[avikz]

Isn't that basically what bitcoin is?

He can hardly buy anything with it. We just give it value for the sake of giving it value.

Matter of fact, let's do just that for the heck of it, see how far we can go with it. I'll pick up a rock and call it Akorn and put it up for $10. I'll buy it back for $10 and let's see how much it'd be worth by the end of the year.

Lol! Probably that's your perception towards bitcoin! But it doesn't mean that you are correct. Now when you say that people can't buy anything with bitcoin, I would point you towards an website,

Coinmap.org

You will find a map based list of merchants and ATMs worldwide that transacts in bitcoin. Also did you ever heard of purse.io website. You can buy anything from Amazon using bitcoin. So your point is invalid!

[15days]

Isn't that basically what bitcoin is?

He can hardly buy anything with it. We just give it value for the sake of giving it value.

Matter of fact, let's do just that for the heck of it, see how far we can go with it. I'll pick up a rock and call it Akorn and put it up for $10. I'll buy it back for $10 and let's see how much it'd be worth by the end of the year.

Lol! Probably that's your perception towards bitcoin! But it doesn't mean that you are correct. Now when you say that people can't buy anything with bitcoin, I would point you towards an website,

Coinmap.org

You will find a map based list of merchants and ATMs worldwide that transacts in bitcoin. Also did you ever heard of purse.io website. You can buy anything from Amazon using bitcoin. So your point is invalid!

That's not why people are buying it though. Also note I said "hardly". I didn't say you can't at all. Gold, fiat...their value is in what they can do for you. Bitcoin can hardly do anything for you.

[pawanjain]

Isn't that basically what bitcoin is?

We can hardly buy anything with it. We just give it value for the sake of giving it value.

Matter of fact, let's do just that for the heck of it, see how far we can go with it. I'll pick up a rock and call it Akorn and put it up for $10. I'll buy it back for $10 and let's see how much it'd be worth by the end of the year.

bitcoin is far more than just a rock. We have so many rocks lying around but we don't have bitcoin being given away for free or we can't find it lying around.
Even if we somehow magically give the rocks a value, where would you store so many rocks ? In your backyard ? But what if you don't have a backyard ?
Also, if your rocks somehow has a value, the government will dive in claiming it is government's property and then will regulate it.
You will have to get the rocks from the government and then later use it for trading products.
Whereas bitcoin cannot be controlled by the government and is be stored on the blockchain.
But yeah the fiat money used to transact with bitcoin is still regulated in many countries since it is controlled by the government.

Now do you know why bitcoin is simply not just a rock ?

[Stalker22]

Gold, fiat...their value is in what they can do for you. Bitcoin can hardly do anything for you.

The argument you make does not make sense. What exactly can gold or fiat do for you that bitcoin cannot?
Give me at least one example.