Quote from: d5000 on August 19, 2021, 11:58:37 PM

Some months ago I started a similar thread in the Spanish subforum, and I came to pretty similar conclusions than you.

Quote from: RainbowKun on August 08, 2021, 10:35:49 AM

In my opinion, because of continuous energy input, these energy sources ensure the stability of the Bitcoin network, and no single force can tamper with the Bitcoin network. On this basis, more and more people have developed trust in Bitcoin, and can inject their wealth into the Bitcoin system, and value will be generated. The continuous supply of energy can maintain the stability of the Bitcoin network. The stability of the network can generate trust, and trust can generate value, and the value will ultimately be stored in the Bitcoin network.

While Wind_Fury is right that Bitcoin is not "a battery" (i.e. for the Bitcoin price it isn't relevant how many energy was put into mining in a certain point of time), I think what you wrote here is actually a pretty good explanation for the base mechanism which gives value to BTC, although it obviously only covers a part of the whole "value proposition".

Basically Bitcoin is "a medium I can trust to transfer value", because of the security provided by PoW, and because of the scarcity which ensures that my value isn't diluted. Like you wrote, there is consensus among the users regarding this part of the value proposition.

But then you can add more "items" which make up the whole value proposition. For example, there are some advantages which it has compared to the "fiat system", and any of them is "adding value" for some user groups:

1) No national barriers. It is a perfect medium for international transfers.
2) Transparency and non-reversibility of payments (important for businesses like merchants).
3) It gives new opportunities to make profit. This is not only a part of the "value proposition" for the hundreds of thousands or millions of traders or holders, but also companies who build services upon it. This item is different from the base value proposition ("it has value because the value is preserved due to security and scarcity"), because in this case, people expect to benefit from it, not only to "store" value.
4) Accessibility (you don't need a bank account for it, not even an address)

In my Spanish post, I related these factors to the network effect, which increases or decreases the base value, according to its strength (this is why some altcoins have small values, even if they use exactly the same code than Bitcoin). This is approximately what you mean with "consensus", I think.

Hi, d5000, thank you for your patient reply, yes, we have similar views. I also read your Spanish article carefully through translation software. Your article explains the value of Bitcoin from a more professional perspective. In my article, the point I want to express is that the essence of value is consensus, especially collective consensus. When a group of people approve of the same thing or the same point of view, they have reached a consensus on the matter, and after reaching a consensus, the matter becomes valuable. So why can one thing be recognized by many people? That must be that it has many advantages in itself. This is what you call the value proposition of Bitcoin, the advantages of Bitcoin, and the benefits that Bitcoin brings to all kinds of people. So everyone believes in Bitcoin, and Bitcoin has gained everyone's permissionless trust through its algorithms and technology.

These are all in-depth thinking about Bitcoin, and I also hope to communicate with more friends through these articles I have written, and then gain consensus from more and more people. In the follow-up, I will also launch my own independent blockchain project, Rainbow City, and will also work hard to create value for Bitcoin.