Quote from: Quadast on June 12, 2017, 06:29:06 PM

Quote from: Marsipos on June 12, 2017, 06:07:27 PM

As I explained in a previous post, the price of an altcoin does not show its importance. For the same reason, the marketcap, which is simply the price multiplied by the total supply is a bad indicator of the importance of an crypto-currency. We thus can not use Ethereum total valuation to argue that there is a flippening.

It seems to be a very difficult question, because I still could not understand What is the value of the crypto currency. If you take for example the dollar, then every dollar has its share of gold in the state's Gold Reserve. But Bitcoin, it's practically air, which costs fabulous money.

If you think every dollar in existence has it's share of gold in Fort Knox (or anywhere else for that matter), you're in for a shock. The dollar hasn't been backed by gold since the 1970's. What it is effectively backed by is the future economic output of the US - essentially the future labour of the people of America.

But again, if you calculate the number of dollars in existence and figure out how many each US citizen would have to back.... the numbers are just as bad as the gold.

The reality? The dollar is backed by nothing more than confidence. That's exactly the same thing backing bitcoin. The only difference is the dollar is more widespread, more entrenched in the system, and has more confidence. As for real value though? There's not much in it.