Bitcoin Compared to Gold
Gold is expensive to store securely.
Gold is extremely expensive and slow to transport securely, especially large amounts.
Gold is heavy, it takes up space.
You can't walk very far carrying a lot of gold. You can't swim at all with more than a few coins of gold.
Gold can be confiscated. Gold has already been confiscated by the US government.
Highway robbers, corrupt border guards, pirates, and others can merely kill you, then take any gold you were transporting.
Tungsten's density is very close to that of gold. There are now gold-coated tungsten bars in circulation. It requires special equipment and know-how to detect gold-coated tungsten.
Gold has intrinsic value, but it's on par with aluminum and copper. Besides, the point of money is to have little or no intrinsic value.
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Bitcoin is easy and inexpensive to store securely.
Bitcoin is inexpensive to transport, and compared to gold, transporting Bitcoin is 'instantaneous'.
Bitcoin weighs nothing and takes up little, if any space.
Bitcoin cannot be detected and can pass right through any border or airport.
Bitcoin won't stop refugees from walking long distances, nor from swimming across rivers.
Bitcoin cannot be confiscated. Robbers, pirates, corrupt cops, soldiers, etc. won't know you own any (unless you tell them), and they cannot merely kill you and take your Bitcoin.
Bitcoin can be sent across the Internet.
Bitcoin has no intrinsic value.
Intrinsic Value
Money does not need intrinsic value. In fact, the whole idea of money is to use something with little or no intrinsic value in order to facilitate trade. When people trade items with intrinsic value for other items with intrinsic values, that's called "barter" and no "money" is involved.
People who throw the "intrinsic value" term around usually don't know what it means.
Investopedia says:
What Is Intrinsic Value?
Intrinsic value is a measure of what an asset is worth. This measure is arrived at by means of an objective calculation or complex financial model, rather than using the currently trading market price of that asset.
Wikipedia says:
In finance, intrinsic value or fundamental value is the "true, inherent, and essential value"[1] of an asset independent of its market value.[2]
So, technically, Bitcoin has no intrinsic value, but that's okay.
Fiat money has no intrinsic value, either.
Gold has a little bit of intrinsic value, about on par with copper or aluminum.
Again: Bitcoin is the strongest, soundest money ever used, even though it does not have much, if any, "intrinsic value".
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