Uhhh....yeah....welcome to Bitcoin and to the forums.

I'm afraid the rest is gonna hurt...

If one day everyone decided that gold was a total waste of time and had no value, the value of it would go to $0 and everyone who bought the gold would lose their money.

Gold is so old school...Manganese is the new commodity. Get it now while you still can.

you forgot the pic...

question i have to ask, what monetary system outside of direct barter HAS a substantial intrinsic value?
Gold can be used for making electronics... and plating stuff as a non-reactive coating... that is about it.
Silver is a bit more useful.
paper money.. uh.. can line your house with dollar bills if the banks ever crash again?

Bitcoin may not have any physical backing aside from power consumption but its right up there with the rest in 'intrinsic value' which is a medium of exchange which is accepted somewhere.

Justified?

Because enough people have decided that it's worth that price, for a number of reasons. Considering things are only worth what people will pay for them (absent coercion) I'd say the market price is its own justification.

As to why it's being valued so highly now, my opinion, it's just increased demand brought about by more people finding out about bitcoins and realizing how useful they are and will be. I don't see that demand diminishing any time soon; while I don't think it's all that likely, a price of $100 by the end of the year wouldn't shock me.

And if it did I would still bank on it going even higher.

Bitcoin has value because it's scarce and we say it has value.

Gold has value because it's scarce and we say it has value.

TF2 Hats have value because they're scarce and we say it has value.

These three are different than the following.

WoW Gold has little value because it's not scarce and we base its value on how annoying it is to get.

Dirt has little value because it's the opposite of scarce, but it can be a pain to haul in large quantities if you need to get some dirt in a place that doesn't have any (which wouldn't really price the dirt, but the effort it takes to move it)

The dollar has negative value because it's not only the opposite of scarce, but can be produced on a whim, and we have no say in its value, which is always negative.  We use this because it's common and the gov said so, and what the gov says is as good as God's word.

Some people believe Bitcoin's value directly represents the Dollar's actual value, which is less than dirt.  It's value increases based on how many people realize this.  But if you're implying Bitcoin shouldn't have value because it does nothing, you should bury your money in a hole and see what it does at the end of the day.

The following is a list I've comprised of things you can do with paper money that you can't do with Bitcoin.

1. Use it for campfire fuel
2. Sew it into an ineffective blanket
3. Wipe your ass
4. Snort crack
5. Blow your nose
6. Paper ball for office hoops
7. Create a public diversion when running from the popo
8. Fold to expose 9/11 was a hoax
9. Draw a mustache on great American historical figures

However, with the advent of paper Bitcoin money, this list is/will be moot.

Blame the web.   Let me tell you why.

There are at least two ways someone can learn about bitcoin.

1.  you are concerned about the global economy and monetary policy so you do some personal research about currency and modern alternatives.  Then eventually you find out the Wikipedia page about bitcoin.

2.  you find an article about it on your preferred website.  It's pure chance as this website usually don't speak about this kind of stuff in particular.

If you were in the first case, there is no reason why many people should have learnt about bitcoin in the same time as you.  Because you learnt about if from your initiative.  So if you start buying bitcoins it won't change the price much.

In the second case, it's very different.  An army of registered readers will suddenly learn about bitcoin more or less in the same time.  Even if only 10% of them think it is a good idea, it is still a lot of people.  And of course, they will all rush to buy a few bitcoins.  And here you have an effect in the price.  Had those people stretched their purchase on a slightly larger period of time, the price would probably not have been affected.   But no, they had to act all together, like a hurd.





It's not our fault if people behave like cattle.

Go home hand, you are drunk.