What is Bitcoin’s underlying value?

Many people are against the idea of Bitcoin. The common narrative is: “Bitcoin is nothing but a digital asset that is driven by speculative mania. It’s value is driven by a consensus of speculators only and once the buyers dry-up, the price will collapse. Hence, it has no underlying value.”

But Bitcoin does have underlying value, based on its inherent characteristics detailed below: 

It is Decentralised 

It is free from any central authority and has no central point of failure. Due to its decentralised nature, it has complete global demand and thus, it has become one of the most liquid assets in the world – available in close to all countries world-wide.

It is a Deflationary Asset and the antithesis of central banks 

Central banks’ relentless money printing has become the norm – driving inflation to catastrophic levels. Bitcoin has a fixed supply and there will only ever be 21 million Bitcoin by the year ~2140AD. Nothing can change this, whatsoever. Because of this, Bitcoin is the only asset in the world whose supply is completely unaffected by its demand. It is digital scarcity in its purest form. Just like a URL such as www.money.com that is worth millions due to its digital scarcity, Bitcoin is of the same nature.

Proof of Work 

Bitcoin like Gold, requires a lot of work and energy to get new Bitcoin into the overall supply. That is why so much energy goes into mining Bitcoin globally. If so much work, power and man-hours gives gold its underlying value (alongside its other intrinsic characteristics), Bitcoin should be treated the same. 

Utility and Durability 

Bitcoin is accepted globally as a monetary unit and/or store of value. If more people think this on a daily basis, this only strengthens the concept. Right now, Bitcoin is proven as a store of value with institutions such Tesla, Microstrategy and others adding it to their treasuries, so to protect their investors’ wealth. Bitcoin can also never decay. Once mined and added to the supply, it can never be destroyed as its unit is added to the blockchain (ledger) and recorded forever. Nothing can change that, as Bitcoin’s blockchain is holistically impossible to defraud.

Transportability 

You can take Bitcoin anywhere in the world with you, without anyone knowing. It is a complete offshore asset from its inception. Many people around the world are choosing Bitcoin as the best choice to save their wealth from corrupt governments and to allow them more freedom of choice in their life.