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Bitcoin is a peer to peer payment network; the value is in the network and the new abilities it brings with it. If you don't see value in a superior replacement for credit cards on the Internet and international money transfers, I don't think you're looking hard enough.



That a system such as Bitcoin has value does not intrinsically make a bitcoin have any value. The question is whether it is any worse than traditional/national currencies in this regard.

At the moment the speculative /bubble behaviour is dominating and volatility is too high compared with any national currency except those undergoing a massive crisis[1] (which is not most of them most of the time).

[1] I'm torn about this argument as it feels unfair to exclude currencies in crisis but on the other hand if the argument for Bitcoin is that it is as stable as a currency regarded as failing isn't an impressive claim to make.


> That a system such as Bitcoin has value does not intrinsically make a bitcoin have any value.

Correct, but that Bitcoin has gained the size it has gives it that value. Metcalfe's law. Bitcoin has the liquidity that none of the alt's could dream of.

>The question is whether it is any worse than traditional/national currencies in this regard.

No, that is not the question. Traditional currencies are not payment networks; bitcoin is not just a currency, it's a technology that includes the payment network and currency inextricably bound. The question is whether bitcoin as a payment network is better than existing payment networks like Paypal or Visa or Wester Union.

> At the moment the speculative /bubble behaviour is dominating and volatility is too high compared with any national currency except those undergoing a massive crisis

Bitcoin is not simply a currency, such a comparison is simply wrong from the start. Bitcoin's competitors are not other currencies, rather it's other payment networks. What currency those other payment networks use is rather beside the point.

Bitcoin is not a stable currency and will likely never be a stable currency due to its deflationary nature. It is however a payment network and such a network does not require much currency stability; if the price is stable for a matter of minutes and there's enough liquidity to handle large transactions that's enough to make it an invaluable payment network capable of putting the likes of Western Union out of business. Bitcoin could easily come to dominate both large and small international money transfers.




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