As a new bitcoiner today one of the first mystery's for me was...why is a bitcoin worth so much when there is very little commerce to back it up?
1. I think that the early adopters of gold were also thinking that way. But then, there rose more and more markets for gold-to-goods and backwards exchanges.
Once people start believing that something is valuable, it is only matter of time before others will want to trade stuff for that thing.
2. More markets are being created as we speak. Just look at the "Market" section. They probably need time to unfold wings.
3. Due to the nature of Bitcoin, big, "traditional" financial institutions will be very suspicious & careful when trying to invest in it. So mainstream adoption will probably take some time.
...why is a bitcoin worth so much when there is very little commerce to back it up?
The price is partly driven by future expectations.
Hmmm....
Aren't expectations enough ? After all, price of dollar is driven by expectations only.
People expect that it will be stable & have value, because other people think so, because government said so in the past.
This is pure psychology. No "inherent value" at all.