• FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    what’s hilarious, is that BTC is only worth something because people pay fiat for it.

    • BluesF@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Everything is only worth something because people pay fiat for it. But the value of many things increases over time, whereas fiat decreases. This isn’t revolutionary stuff, this is basic rich people economics. Assets grow, cash shrinks.

      • iopq@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        You have the cart before the horse. Anything of value can be traded in fiat, not the other way around.

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        lol.

        So when the banks collapse and hyperinflation sets in, cash is useless and you’re needing to eat… you’re saying that food has no value in of itself? It’s only value is that you pay fiat for it?

        Can’t eat bitcoin. Can’t process it into raw materials. Can’t make tools out of it, or clothing, or entertainment devices….can’t burn it for heat (which… when dystopia hits… officially makes it worth less than bullshit,)

        Sure some places you can use btc to buy stuff, but ultimately, that’s just fiat with more steps and more fees.

        Bitcoins sole value is derived from how much people are willing to pay for it. The demand goes away, it loses value. when people are trading favors for food, demand will go away.

        • BluesF@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          I’m not really considering an apocalyptic scenario where everything not used for survival uses value. I’m obviously speaking in the context of economic value in today’s world… Sure, food retains it’s value in a life or death situation better than other things, but it’s a pretty obviously bad investment from an economic perspective. Unless you think the apocalypse is tomorrow… But then perhaps your money would be better spent trying to prevent that apocalypse?

          • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            Well? Maybe not tomorrow… good news always comes out on Mondays….

            (/s. But you do have to admit the world has gotten increasingly volatile.)

            BTC is a poor currency, and it’s merely a store of value. It’s like a different kind of FOREX, more than anything else. It’s price compared to fiat is only set by what people are willing to pay fiat for it.

            Sure, you can mine crypto all you want, but it has no value until it’s sold. Until it’s sold, it just represents wasted energy.

    • iopq@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      People have bought goods like pizza with BTC before. Not to mention so many drugs (but a lot less drugs than bought with $)

      So this isn’t really true, it’s more true that USD is only worth something because people trust the US government not to fail tomorrow.

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        and how did they get BTC?

        Either mining it by burning electricity running through GPUs or buying it with fiat on-ramps.

        Its value is determined solely by what people are willing to pay- in fiat or some other crypto for it. But even then, that other crypto’s value isn’t directly compared to btc… that other crypto’s dollar value is matched to BTC’s dollar value. and that other crypto’s value is again established by what people are willing to pay fiat for it.

        Further? The dollar’s real value in what it can buy. BTC’s gas fees together with its valuation relative to fiat ensure that its purchasing power will never exceed that of fiat.

        no vendor is currently selling goods for btc (that I know of), merely integrating a btc off-ramp into the POS. (Maybe the vendors in El Salvador. But they don’t really have a choice and last I heard are unhappy with it’s volatility which is why vendors that do have a choice … don’t.)

        The point I was making is that btc is merely a store of value, it’s basically identical to fiat in that respect. It has no inherent value on its own, in the same way that a loaf of bread is valued for being food; or steel is valued because it can be made into wrenches and nuts and bolts;

        BTC’s sole function is being a faux-currency and a store of value,

        • iopq@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          How did they live? Buying food with fiat, checkmate buttcoiners

          Value of anything is determined by what someone is willing to pay. But you are wrong about the value of other crypto, it’s traded by bots against Bitcoin, so when Bitcoin goes up it affects all the other crypto because they have a much closer correlation to BTC than to the dollar.

          I agree that BTC is a fiat currency. The point is over a longer time frame it will store more value if there are more services like the lightning network that rely on eventually doing transactions on the main net.