What does back bitcoin? It is more or less a game to consider that it is backed by demand.
Everything, by the same reasoning, is backed by demand. Houses, stocks, bonds, metals, food, guns, vehicles, goods etc., everything.
basic economics class here for the two people quoted above
imagine there are instead 2 measures..
VALUE and price..
people never want to sell at a loss.. in housing, stocks, shares. bitcoin.
no one on the planet can currently mine for less than say $25k a coin..
no one on the planet can buy a house for less than XXX a square foot
no one on the planet can buy a share of Tesla for less than its business collateral
this is the hidden value line.
EG it costs people atleast $900 to mine for gold. this is golds value line
above this value line. is the speculative more volatile fluff. the moving price.
some people think its worth more then others due to MANY factors. like their local/regional costs of acquiring it being more then other regions. or the usability/features.
this premium above value is where the price sits.
bitcoins value is backed by the mining and acquisition costs.. the price is speculative amount above value and is the "supply/demand" game