https://youtu.be/aBl-O_3g_58The video explains how the phenomenon of representative equivalence and the myth of fiat money being just paper bills or electronic entries on the bank accounts, enabled the craziness in which people trade real things for imaginary ones. Bitcoin of course being the imaginary thing.
the ledger is a digital representation.. of value
and there is a way you can tell that the digital representation has value.
is because there is proof of work
yep real life costs of equipment and money to create the blockrewards(digital representations)
let me explain, and it all becomes clear
week one of bitcoin in 2009. had like 1 computer running 24/7
so them 1008 blocks that week of 50coin each means that
50,400bitcoin cost about a weeks worth of 1 pc electric (call it ~$1.75 for 50k coins)
however to make 6.25 coin today requires about 80exhash
(727,273 s19pro (at 3.25kwh = 54wat per block) = 393939.5kwh
which is at say a low of $0.04/kwh = $15.76k per block= $2521 per btc of just the electric
add in the other costs like
the physical ASIC hardware = $7k*727k asics = $5,090,911,000
= $97,125 a block
= $15,540 a btc
the warehouse lease=$0.30 per asic per month
= $50 a block
= $8 per btc
the labour(estimate 1 person monitoring 1k asics) = 727people *3shifts of 8 hours=. 2181
i wont bother work it out in detail but a crew of about $2181 a day = $15 a block= $2.43 a btc
so
$2521+$15540+$8+$2.43=~$18k a btc (scenario: cheapest region china 100% asic farms)
in places like america where
industrial electric is say 12cent instead of 4 cent
a btc is worth ~$23k right now based on hashrate
in america/UK
residential area of upto 24cent electric instead of chinese industrial 4cent
a btc is worth ~$30k
here is the thing.
if UK/america cant afford to set up cheap mining. they would rather buy bitcoin when its at the low $30k range as its cheaper to buy. and if it goes to $60k they can mine it at home cheap and get 2x profit
bitcoins market PRICE is not the underlyiing value. as each person defines value differently
EG japan and denmark think bitcoin is super cheap at $30k because their mining costs are higher
..
but getting to the point
the bitcoin ledger is not formed by just random input. its made up of actual value. by way of the PoW
much like gold has value due to the labour and mining cost of getting gold. and then the value of the supply demand of people wanting it via:
preferring to mine-to-sell(supply) or market-to-buy(demand)
and
with each new owner/holder/ they set their value based on their cost of acquiring it.(demand)
which is where the older(cheap coins) appreciate as they swap hands over time also (no one sells for a loss unless silly)
(bitcoins creator(satoshi) can sell his 2009 coins at any price and profit)
(someone buying in february 2021 wont sell at a loss)
(someone buying last week at $30k can make a bit of profit)
emphasis:
bitcoins PRICE is speculative. and separate from bitcoin underlying VALUE.. BUT THERE IS VALUE
so there is no imaginary porsche on bitcoin. and bitcoin is not zero value..
but to use an analogy. there is proof of porsche.(physical work PoW) and then people can determine their own value of what that porsche is worth depending on their own calculations of value to build one themselves or buy one
(a porsche 'kit' might be cheaper than a showroom porsche.. a porsche in one country might be different then a porsche in another.. .. but the porsce is real and has value as there is Proof of Porsche)
..
with all that said...
'market cap' is a meaningless dollar value because there are not billions of dollars in some bank holding that number up
its just a stupidly oversimplified mathematic multiplication of the current market price OF ONE coin
.. but bitcoin does have VALUE.