Topic: So, I've yet to figure out any intrinsic value to cryptocurrencies... (Read 870 times)

The intrinsic value is the energy it took to produce the coin, the speculative value is what people think it should be worth. Bitcoin is maturing to the point that enough people are investing in it and talking about it that some of it's speculative value is transitioning to intrinsic value. You cannot deny that more people are accepting Bitcoin everyday. All altcoins are still in the speculative stage that Bitcoin was not too long ago, but most will not make it. They exist mostly to counteract Bitcoin's rising mining difficulty and to trade for Bitcoin.

intrinsic values would include:

Bitcoins can not be counterfeited
Bitcoins require no financial intermediaries
Bitcoins can evolve because it is all software
Bitcoins are easily stored and backed up and secured

and more.

Holy sh*t that was well said.

The intrinsic value of a crypto coin lies in the ideology behind why they are appealing and the trade advantages they offer.

The most appealing aspect is their decentralized nature. By using a currency like BitCoin you reclaim a small piece of freedom in that for a brief moment you're no longer a subject to a central bank who constantly devalues your earnings. This is a very Libertarian view and the people who believe in true individual liberty will back these free-market currencies with full faith. Freedom is mankinds greatest desire. It stands to reason that a currency which supports an individuals strongest beliefs will always hold value.

The second most appealing aspect is the speed and scope of which they can be traded. You can trade them anywhere in the world in an instant without trading them for an alternate currency which expands the size of the market dramatically.

Most currencies have no intrinsic value since they are backed only by fiat. Even gold is only valuable only b/c everyone agrees it is valuable. It's valuation in USD is not directly correlated to its value as an industrial commodity (the demand for gold as an industrial commodity is not what drives its price up). I think of cryptocurrency as a 21st century version of money. In the beginning there was only bartering of items, services, and commodities. Then these things could be exchanged instead for gold, an intermediary thing. The amount of gold in a coin determined its worth as a currency. Over time coins became increasingly inconvenient. Instead we used paper money, backed by gold, to represent value. At some point the paper money ceased to be backed by anything. Towards the very end of the 20th century, many first world citizens stopped carrying even paper money instead doing commerce using only debit or credit cards. Cryptocurrency may be the next evolutionary step. It is radically different than paper currency: it's not dependent on a central authority to fiat it into existence, it can be easily sent and received anywhere, it can be backed up by copying your wallet whereas paper money can not be backed up (deposits can be insured, but this is different), it offers some anonymity depending upon how you conduct transactions, and there is a limited amount of it. These differences definitely make it an incredibly disruptive technology and because of this it's future is very hard to predict.

so true

What about USD?
In "god" we trust? or US gov't we trust?

intrinsic value is payment system. what is intrinsic value of gold?

What are all other currencies backed by? Oh wait... nothing...

Someone enlighten me? Other than that it's been arbitrarily decided they have value by people using them, I see no other backing. That they're a limited resource has no relevance to me, when I don't have any particular desire for the resource.