[icebraining]

>You've begged the question.

No, you just asked a different question.

>What's the intrinsic value they see in Bitcoin?

Well, free transfers, for one, and not being subject to having your money frozen by online payment companies (e.g. Paypal).

[tptacek]

"Free transfers" isn't an intrinsic value of Bitcoin. It's a benefit you get by supposing that Bitcoin has some intrinsic value.

What's the intrinsic value? Why is Bitcoin unlikely to be worth $0 in 10 years? Because it is spectacularly unlikely that gold will be worth $0 in 10 years, and similarly unlikely that a dollar will be. Virtually any trader in the world would take the other side of that bet.

[icebraining]

Let me preface this by saying that I'm very ignorant about this subject.

>What's the intrinsic value? Why is Bitcoin unlikely to be worth $0 in 10 years?

Why does a currency require a value as anything other than a currency to be expect to have value?

Bitcoin offers a useful service. There's is no reason to believe this service will stop being useful in 10 years. Therefore, it's reasonable to expect a demand for Bitcoin in 10 years, making it worth more than $0.

>Because it is spectacularly unlikely that gold will be worth $0 in 10 years

Isn't most of gold's value based on its demand as a currency? If people stopped buying gold just to trade and store value, wouldn't current gold owners lose immensely?