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by magpi3 3128 days ago
Honest question: why does gold have intrinsic value?

My understanding is that it's scarcity is the prime driver of its value, at least in monetary terms, and bitcoin shares that quality. Of course gold does have physical qualities that are useful, but so do many other metals that are not used as stores of value.
2 comments
dleslie 3128 days ago
Gold is used to make physical things, like jewelry and electronics.
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magpi3 3127 days ago
I am aware of that of course, but gold jewelry itself generally has very little intrinsic value (it's only valuable because people agree it is, just like bitcoin), and most elements (such as silicon) in electric components are much cheaper than gold.

The prime driver of gold's value is clearly its historical role as a commodity and its scarcity, neither of which are related to any kind of intrinsic qualities.

My point is that the two things gold has going for it (scarcity and the fact that people believe it is a good place to store value) can now be said about bitcoin as well from what I can see.

Full disclosure: I do not own any cryptocoins. Too volatile for my tastes.

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newman8r 3127 days ago
many other metals are used as stores of value, but gold is probably the most iconic. From a historical standpoint, It's easy to identify, it's easy to break up into smaller units or consolidate into larger ones, easy to form into coins. It has a global distribution, it's relatively inert so you don't need to worry about degradation.

scarcity is only one factor to consider - demand and fungibility are also important factors among others.

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magpi3 3127 days ago
> It's easy to identify, it's easy to break up into smaller units or consolidate into larger ones, easy to form into coins. It has a global distribution,it's relatively inert so you don't need to worry about degradation

Everything in that sentence also applies to bitcoin. Probably the one difference I can see is that if someone loses their private key, the bitcoins associated with that key become useless. Gold does not have that problem.

EDIT: Okay, another huge con with bitcoins is that people don't understand them. Most people at least think they understand why gold is valuable. The confusion a "cryptocurrency" creates is a notable negative.

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