(3) Bitcoin's only intrinsic value is its utility as a method of payment. Its value as an investment depends entirely on that utility.
No, this is not true. A significant portion of bitcoin value comes from its utility as a storage of value: an asset that is scarce, non-confiscatable, exceptionally carriable (cf. gold), pseudonymous, uncorrelated to any traditional asset, and more.
(The last one is in fact a defect.)
Yes they do.
No they don't.
Not this BS again.
1oz gold is 1oz gold is 1oz gold. Its value is not pegged to anything.
Also read "Rai stones" on wikipedia
For alt-coins, bitcoin is better than alt-coins because of its novelty. You may have 1000 bitcoin clones, but Bitcoin is always the FIRST successful cryptocurrency.
Sigh. JUST LOOK AT THE CHARTS.
The "power of the network" is important for a cryptocoin's utility as a currency. IF BITCOIN IS NOT GOING TO BE USED AS A CURRENCY its network is as good as dogecoin's, or as the UN Agency for Plutonian Development. if the market price of an item is not derived from some utilitarian demand, and there is no agent that strives to keep it stable, it can drop drastically and unpredictably, even without any external cause.
Gold is a good example of that (Its price already dropped 30% from its all-time high last year, and nothing says that it could not drop another 50%), as is bitcoin (50%) and Rai stones (how much would you invest in one?).
It does not matter that the item is scarce etc. You cannot compute the value of gold five years from now, not even by an order of magnitude, from the amount that exists and its other properties. An item whose future value is unpredictable is a lousy store of value.
- when it suits you.
If the internet suddenly got taken out in a single event, or if the US was to get hit by an asteroid tomorrow... or IF Jorge suddenly had a change of heart and becomes the biggest Bitcoin spokesperson out there... what about you make the same argument and play the logic out but this time... use
GOING TO BE USED AS A FORM OF CURRENCY" then what ? then what do you say to the power of the network?
I need to book more flights for next week- but IF the country I am flying to suddenly gets hit by an asteroid - then the flights I have booked will be a complete waste of time. Reductio ad absurdum