
You Don’t Understand Bitcoin Because You Think Money Is Real - joeyespo
https://medium.com/@mariabustillos/you-dont-understand-bitcoin-because-you-think-money-is-real-5aef45b8e952
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truculation
Sure money is real; we can't explain our world without it. Its
instantiations/records are physical (and therefore each is 'tangible' in some
appropriate sense).

e.g. marks on paper, magnetic domains pointing _this_ way rather than _that_
way, electrons being _here_ rather than _there_.

When we develop new tech, wealth potentially increases -- so funding tech
startups is an appropriate avenue for creating new money.

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TheCoelacanth
Money is real. If I don't pay taxes with it, men with guns will come and put
me in jail. If my landlord doesn't pay their taxes with it, men with guns will
come and take away their building. Bitcoin doesn't have any men with guns to
set a baseline demand.

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nickthemagicman
Tell that to Venezuela whose money is absolutely worthless and they have dudes
with guns...

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TheCoelacanth
That's because the people that the men with guns can use them on have very few
real assets (both physical assets and human capital), so they can't give up
very much in real value in exchange for the currency that the men with guns
are demand. That leads to the currency not being very valuable.

In places where the people do have significant assets that they can give up in
exchange for the currency, the currency has a lot of value.

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alimw
Surely every dollar, physical or not, can be said to be 'backed' by the assets
of the issuing institution? Assets that are most likely government or
corporate or mortgage debt, implying a stake in real state apparatus, business
or property...

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Terr_
Dollars aren't backed by assets, dollars are backed by _debts_. Collateral is
nice but not required.

At its core a dollar-bill is a uniformly-sized, freely-transferable IOU,
representing a credit held by the bearer with the US government as the debtor.

Even if nobody else wants your rectangle of paper and linen, the US government
has to honor it when they do things like ask you to pay taxes. That's the
foundation of the dollar being worth something.

See also: "Debt, the first 5000 years" by David Graeber

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sharemywin
my understanding is taxes back up other currencies. which are back up with
giant armies.

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andirk
I agree. Bitcoin doesn't have guns so it is quite the feat for it to think it
can become as powerful as those with killing power. But I believe in Bitcoin
and I want to see it win. However large that win may be I don't know.

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LinuxBender
Is bitcoin insured and by how much in each country?

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craftyguy
No, and zero point zero.

