[jstalin]

Value is subjective. Water is very valuable in the desert, but not so valuable in the middle of the Pacific. Diamonds are valuable in downtown Chicago, not so much to someone surviving in a lifeboat. During the hyperinflation of Germany in the 20's, people were trading furs and antiques for food. It's all subjective.

[rrrrtttt]

Saying that value is subjective is tautological, it's like saying pretty girls are pretty. What's the base case of the recursion? With stock certificates, you have expectations of future dividends. With stamps, they're nice to look at. What do you have with Bitcoin?

[jstalin]

Nice to look at, for some people. Many couldn't care less. Of course, it's subjective. Bitcoins have value for some because those people value bitcoins over other things, like US dollars. It's a subjective value judgment why anyone trades one thing (dollars) for anything else (stamps, bitcoins, diamonds).

[Ntrails]

Stamps are only nice to look at for some people. The only reason I would buy a stamp would be to sell on again at an expected profit later on.

The value today comes from the expectation of future value, based on something as subjective as the opinions of a subset of society.

[pessimizer]

You can avoid taxes, tracking, and buy drugs with it.