No its not circular reasoning. Remember: Intrinsic value is one of the essential properties of money, that allows it to fulfill its functions. Without intrinsic value, gold could not fulfill its monetary role.
And here we have the crux of the issue. You keep saying this, but empirically it has been shown to be false. Therefore we reject your arguments. Money does not require an intrinsic value. Bitcoin, and also Ripple, and even all the credit based fiat currencies of the world used today, show that this is just not true. Money is an idea, it can exist without a physical object helping the simple minded understand it.