Why is Bitcoin Valuable? / What Gives Bitcoin Value?

Bitcoin is valuable because of its nature. Not just in its finite amount, which globally makes it a rare and attractive commodity and ensures it always remains relevant, but because of its digital aspect.

BTC is digital first and foremost. To a lot of people, who like to bet on real, solid things, that digital nature is a dubious, unstable proposition at best — a gamble, if you will, akin to playing Russian roulette, or just dropping by your local casino (if you even have one).

That’s especially relevant for those who don’t understand the massive transition we are experiencing as humans in our evolution, from physical, to digital, and are still stuck in how things used to be done a few decades back only.

And yet, just like with regular money and including its digital forms (the numbers on your bank account), Bitcoin is backed by something real.

And that real thing is the intended purpose of BTC. Bitcoin intends to be a digital currency untouched by the government, and that’s what gives it its whole value. “Decentralised”, as it were.

But beyond this possibly difficult to integrate term, here’s something to describe it better: holding BTC isn’t tied to any systemic institution.

You can transact with a currency, purchase goods and services, with a digital asset that is entirely disconnected from being overseen by a systemic entity. And with that, all the possibilities and freedom that it entails. Therein lies the value of Bitcoin.

It is a stride, the first of its kind, in the direction of pure and total human autonomy, not monitored by the inherent oppressive nature of governments.

This is relevant to people, who for instance, were greatly bothered by, in the wake of bank cards, how each transaction was automatically recorded and left a digital footprint that banks and other official institutions could freely look into. It wasn’t about whether they would, it was about the fact that they could.

Because with physical cash, there remained the anonymity of not being spied on. While the transition was from physical cash, to a digital form, what really ultimately bothered these people was that their spendings were suddenly tracked. But cryptocurrencies, without giving up on the digital strides we’ve made in life, go back to that original concept of being untraceable, in the form of non-identifiable, anonymous transactions.

Bitcoin returns people’s anonymity and freedom of movements without the fixed eye of institutions that give themselves license to spy on others, and therein lies its value.

Proof of how revolutionary it was, which may not mean much in the real world, is the trail of copycats that immediately arose in its wake.

But the ultimate proof is how it inflamed the world.

Where Is Bitcoin At Right Now?

Of course the intended purpose of BTC is, so far, theoretical: presently, purchasing goods and services with BTC is reserved for porn websites, and whoever accepts Bitcoin as a currency for their online consultation services. It works best for people who do digital 1–1 sessions (like me!), and who can therefore accept the currency as payment, and convert it later on to another currency.

→ in shorts, it shows us that regular and government-backed currencies are still essential, because despite BTC’s intended purpose, the currency, at this present time, is still not being used the way it was meant to be used.

But it’s the idea, presented in Bitcoin’s white paper, that blazed through the world. The idea had the tangible impact of getting people to bet on it. People back in the days, advising everyone else to buy BTC, and essentially redirecting towards what ultimately revealed itself to be an existing path and life direction you can decidedly walk.

Today, people have made genuine money with Bitcoin. People have regretted not getting into the Bitcoin bandwagon because they lost real, tangible gains in not doing so. There have been specific strategies created to invest in BTC to mitigate losses, just like with regular investment channels and methods.

The idea of Bitcoin being entirely detached from governments (decentralised), is exactly what led it to become this highly volatile asset; proof of how much impact it had, the price of BTC soars incredibly high and sinks drastically low, because of how people, spurred by this asset’s potential, trade it at high volume.