Topic: Does Bitcoin hold intrinsic value, or is it overvalued? (Read 3076 times)

I'm in the camp that says there is no such thing as intrinsic value. 

I don't know if you imply some short of conspiracy but this price is an estimation.

Many people seem to miss the meaning of 'intrinsic'. Bitcoin, and almost anything that is digital doesn't hold 'intrinsic value'. Intrinsic essentially means does it have value besides the function it serves. An mp3 file is useful but it doesn't have intrinsic value. Google's search alogrithm has immense patented technological value but it does not have intrinsic value.

What does have intrinsic value? Gold has intrinsic value because besides serving as a store of wealth or currency or whatever it is a very rare, unique, and special material on our planet that is practically indestructible (resistant to oxidization and corrosion), is the most ductile and malleable of metals and has a 5000 year track record of being considered aesthetically pleasing to human beings. Many real world things have been used as money ranging from shells to paper today - those don't have intrinsic value either.

As for Bitcoin - it doesn't have intrinsic value. It does have technological value but since its not patented and is easily accessible and can be incrementally improved upon, not much value can be placed on that aspect of it. Bitcoin's main value right now is in its network effect. It is susceptible to lose this network effect if a better digital currency comes along (think Facebook replacing Myspace). Right now Bitcoin derives its value from the assumption that it will stay and progress as the dominant digital currency of the future - once it loses that projection it is essentially worthless. Simple as that.

They even tell you exactly how much it could get to! $98500
Pretty funny they "know" such exact details.

And here 's an article from coindesk that puts bitcoin's intrinsic value as a payment network at almost 100000$
http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-price-reach-98500-say-wall-street-analysts/

Exactly this is one of the points of the article.
Moreover, wIthout a point of reference is hard to assign value to anything, including gold, silver, water, etc...

Now the question is how long for the media will continue confusing the general public with their own confusion about Bitcoin and these philosophical time-wasting pieces about "intrinsic value".

Regardless of the talk about value, if Bitcoin is a good idea, it will prosper. Too early to call it a bubble, particularly for those who don't fully understand it.

Bitcoin like shares, they have no values unless people trust it.

I think people trust it as the cost of modifying the total supply, extremely costly so they trust, also widely accessible.

Why do you think so? Would be useful if you explain your reasoning

Money is a type of paper generated from cotton or a number in your bank account. But you and me and all of us believe that it is valuable. Then it is valuable.
This is kind of selective perception. You see what you believe.

Bitcoin undervalue. It'll be higher in the future. Idea is uniqe. We or our children will use it for a payment method. All goverments will have their crypto currencies. But bitcoin will be independent and overvalued than others. Less people will have it and it will be rare like diamond. Why? Because it is the first created decentralized cyrpto currency. And it'll be forever. Some of us will be very reach. But most of us will succumb to greed.Pepole wants to buy something. We never love saving

http://es.scribd.com/doc/188644617/Bitcoin-Intrinsic-Value-Wedbush-Report-December-2013

Yes, I think it has intrinsic value, because it's useful.

However, nobody truly knows how much it is overvalued or undervalued, because that depends on demand, which is very fickle, to say the least.

Yes, and potentially undervalued.

Every transaction is a key element to a blockchain which is locked by a very high amount of real work that took real effort.  A 'bitcoin' is just a combination of these elements.  In fact, most of these elements are highly subsidized.  Any change in any of these elements would necessitate all of the work being re-done.  This, in my mind, gives Bitcoin a tremendous amount of 'intrinsic value'.

A 'bitcoin' is not at all unlike a bush-stroke in the Mona Lisa.  Who knows why the work is valued so highly, but it is.  If some jag-off gouges out part of it and paints in a different piece, the work itself becomes much less valued even if the guy re-worked it with a similar level of skill to Da Vinci.

Bitcoin should be considered on of those among many other things that bitcoin should be considered among as well.
Softwares / payment platforms / protocols etc...

No. Nothing has "intrinsic" value by itself. Nothing is valuable by definition. If you are a human, water is valuable. If you are a fridge, access to electricity could be more valuable to you than water.

=======
intrinsic
ɪnˈtrɪnsɪk/
adjective
adjective: intrinsic

    1.
    belonging naturally; essential.
    "access to the arts is intrinsic to a high quality of life"
=======

Everything is relative. If you just had all the water that you need a moment ago, the value of water plummets immediately for you. The value that we assign to things is changing all the time. And that's ok

It depends on how you define intrinsic value. Can mean the worth of the metal in the coin or the value of a company due to its assets and future growth/profits alone. I say disregard a term no one can quite pin down and instead debate bitcoin on its merits.

As much as I love arguing semantics, I will yield to this.

People shouldn't get hung up on "intrinsic value".  The value of Bitcoin is in the money people invest in it, by buying BTC, buying hardware, and writing software.  So yes, Bitcoin has value as long as people are able to extract value from it.  That will continue as long as the protocol works and the software continues to improve, regardless of whether it's used as a payment method or as a savings account.

Even without the Bitcoin network, the idea of cryptocurrency is a rather large piece of intellectual property that may lead to other things in the future.  

Oh I see, so food/water/shelter doesn't have intrinsic value?  I don't think you're applying the definition properly here.  Water for example holds much higher intrinsic value for a human being, than another human being.  I'd much rather be stuck on mars with 2,000 liters of water, than be stuck with another human to talk to.

Indeed not, by your definition. Intrinsic is defined as something 'belonging naturally to; essential'. It would be a stretch to say even gold or silver has "intrinsic" value, as for some people it's utility is not immediately recognized or inherent.

The only thing I think you could say has 'intrinsic' value is a human being. If you are going strictly by the definition. The only thing of universal intrinsic value to any human being is another human being. Unless you are a serious misanthrope.

Of course though, as you say, yes we all(here on this forum anyway) understand and agree bitcoins are valuable. But I think it is a great stretch to say it is something inherent or intrinsic in bitcoin specifically that makes it valuable.

Perhaps a little of both?