When critics dismiss Bitcoin as “worthless” due to its lack of intrinsic value, they often rely on outdated economic assumptions about what value truly means. But a deeper analysis reveals that Bitcoin’s value isn’t rooted in traditional utility—like being worn or consumed—but in its intrinsic properties that align with fundamental human values such as wealth preservation and monetary sovereignty.
Rather than asking whether Bitcoin has intrinsic value, a more accurate question is: Do Bitcoin’s objective properties satisfy widely held subjective human preferences? The answer, increasingly, is yes.
Rethinking Intrinsic Value
The term intrinsic value is commonly used in finance to describe an asset’s “true” worth, independent of market price. According to Investopedia, it’s determined through “objective calculation or complex financial models.” But this definition raises a critical question: Who defines which model is correct?
Value cannot exist in a vacuum. It only emerges in relation to an evaluator—someone who desires, needs, or benefits from an object. Imagine a world with no humans. Would gold still be valuable? Would farmland? Stocks? Without beings to assign meaning, these assets lose all economic relevance.
Even essentials like oxygen only hold value because humans need them to survive. Remove humanity, and the concept of value collapses. This shows that value is not purely objective or subjective—it is a synthesis of both.
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In economic terms: if people subjectively value survival, they must objectively value oxygen. If people subjectively value wealth preservation, they must objectively seek money resistant to inflation and seizure. Bitcoin, with its unique design, fulfills this need better than any prior form of money.
Shifting the Conversation: From Value to Properties
Instead of debating abstract notions of intrinsic value, it’s more productive to examine Bitcoin’s intrinsic properties—the objective, measurable characteristics that make it uniquely suited to serve as sound money.
Gold became money not because kings declared it so, but because its physical traits—durability, scarcity, divisibility—matched human desires to store and exchange value. Bitcoin follows the same path, but enhances these properties through digital innovation.
Let’s explore four of Bitcoin’s most powerful intrinsic properties.
1) Decentralization
Bitcoin operates on a global peer-to-peer network with no central authority. There’s no CEO, no boardroom, no headquarters. Changes to the protocol require consensus across thousands of independent nodes worldwide.
This decentralization eliminates single points of failure. No government or corporation can unilaterally alter the rules. As the network grows, its resistance to change increases—like concrete hardening over time.
Any attempt to modify Bitcoin without broad agreement is rejected by the network. This ensures that Bitcoin remains neutral, predictable, and censorship-resistant by design.
2) Censorship Resistance
Bitcoin treats all transactions equally. It doesn’t discriminate based on identity, location, politics, or belief. As long as a transaction includes a sufficient mining fee (averaging $1.37 as of early 2022), it will be processed.
This is revolutionary in an era where financial institutions routinely freeze accounts or block payments based on political opinions or regulatory pressure. Bitcoin offers a permissionless financial layer accessible to anyone with internet access.
3) Settlement Finality
Bitcoin transactions are settled approximately every 10 minutes through proof-of-work mining. Once confirmed multiple times, they become irreversible.
This finality is secured by physics—not trust. Proof-of-work links the digital world to real-world energy expenditure, making fraud economically unfeasible. As Gigi articulates in “Bitcoin is Time,” this mechanism creates a trustless synchronization across space and time.
Unlike traditional banking systems where transactions can be reversed or frozen, Bitcoin offers immutable settlement—a game-changer for global commerce and individual financial security.
4) Guaranteed Scarcity
Bitcoin’s most famous feature is its fixed supply cap of 21 million coins. Unlike gold—whose supply can increase if mining becomes profitable—or fiat currencies, which central banks can inflate at will—Bitcoin’s scarcity is mathematically enforced.
As Robert Breedlove explains, “absolute scarcity can only be digital.” Physical assets are limited only by time and effort required to extract them. But Bitcoin’s code ensures that no more than 21 million will ever exist, making it the first truly scarce digital object in history.
This scarcity isn’t theoretical—it’s provable, transparent, and immune to manipulation.
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Aligning Objective Properties With Subjective Values
Money is a tool—a means to achieve goals like saving, trading, and planning for the future. Its value comes from how well it serves those purposes.
Two universal human preferences are:
- Wealth preservation: protecting purchasing power over time.
- Monetary sovereignty: freedom to control one’s own money without interference.
Fiat currencies fail at both. The U.S. dollar has lost over 85% of its purchasing power since 1970. The Federal Reserve targets inflation—meaning devaluation is not a bug, but a feature. To buy what $100 could in 1970, you’d need over $700 today.
Meanwhile, financial censorship is rising. Banks close accounts arbitrarily. Governments monitor transactions. Payment processors deplatform users based on speech.
Gold once served as a check on such power—but its physical nature made it vulnerable to confiscation and centralization (e.g., Executive Order 6102 in 1933). Bitcoin solves this by being digital, portable, and non-confiscatable without private keys.
For citizens of stable economies, these benefits may seem abstract. But for people in hyperinflationary countries like Venezuela or Nigeria—or those facing political repression—Bitcoin isn’t speculative; it’s essential.
Recent events in developed nations are also shifting perceptions. U.S. inflation hit multi-decade highs in 2022. Canada froze bank accounts during protests in 2022. These incidents underscore that financial risk isn’t just a “developing world” problem.
FAQ: Common Questions About Bitcoin’s Value
Q: Doesn’t Bitcoin have no value because it’s not backed by anything?
A: Neither is gold—but people value it for its properties. Bitcoin isn’t “backed” by a government or commodity; it’s supported by cryptography, code, and global consensus.
Q: Can’t governments just ban Bitcoin?
A: They can try—but banning a decentralized protocol is like trying to ban the internet. While access can be restricted locally, the network persists globally.
Q: Isn’t Bitcoin just used by criminals?
A: Less than 1% of Bitcoin transactions involve illicit activity (Chainalysis, 2023). Cash remains the dominant tool for illegal transactions.
Q: What if someone creates a better cryptocurrency?
A: Over 10,000 cryptocurrencies exist—but none match Bitcoin’s security, decentralization, and network effect. First-mover advantage matters in money.
Q: How can something digital be scarce?
A: Digital scarcity is enforced by code and consensus. Just as software licenses or domain names are scarce digitally, Bitcoin’s supply is capped and verifiable.
Q: Isn’t Bitcoin too volatile to be real money?
A: Early-stage volatility is normal for emerging assets. As adoption grows and liquidity increases, volatility tends to decrease over time.
The Path Forward
Thousands of years ago, humans converged on gold as money—not by decree, but through voluntary adoption driven by its superior properties. Bitcoin is following the same organic path.
It doesn’t need to be mandated. It doesn’t need universal acceptance today. All it needs is for rational individuals—especially those who value preserving wealth and controlling their finances—to recognize its advantages.
As more people face currency debasement, financial surveillance, and systemic risk, Bitcoin’s value proposition becomes harder to ignore.
Its worth isn’t found in what it is, but in what it enables: a future where money is neutral, open, and resistant to corruption.
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