A question I am frequently asked is, "why does bitcoin have value?" or put differently, "how do you ascribe any value to bitcoin?" This question is not easily answered. In some aspects, there is a question regarding how anything has value. More complexly, Bitcoin as a network is so novel in its existence that few standardized methods and metrics have been codified in the books of this emerging asset class.
Carl Menger teaches us that all value is subjective. If I were to offer you a water bottle right now, you might be willing to pay $1.00 for it. If I asked you the same question after a 100 day sojourn through the Sahara, I might be able to get a $99.00 premium.
I have recently begun to answer questions regarding the value of bitcoin by engaging my interlocutors with a series of my own questions, socratic style; what I call the "bitcoin value thought experiment." These questions are:
- What do you posses that cannot be take away from you?
- What tangible/quantifiable possessions do you own that cannot be taken away from you?
- If there existed an object that had tangible/quantifiable value, how much would you value that thing (how much would you be willing to pay for it)?
In this video, I walk through my thinking around these 3 questions and how they engage no-coiners in beginning to understand why it is that bitcoin has any value at all.
thank you for your time and attention, see you in the comments!
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