I realize this is a shit post, but I love bitcoin, so I'm going to address your flippant comment for others that might be reading the thread. What is money and what gives it value? People realized early on that there was a lot of friction with trading. I can raise chickens and you can build houses, but trying to trade you 40,000 chickens to build me a house was going to be a difficult thing to workout. So people started assigning value to anything they could find that met certain characteristics. It had to be relatively rare (at least locally), it had to be small enough to manage, and it had to be generally accepted to "have value". People used sea shells, bones, stones, etc. As technology improved and people were able to travel farther distances, they realized they needed something that had the global characteristics - relatively rare, manageable, and generally accepted to have value. Precious metals were available all over the world and had the necessary characteristics, so they became the default form of money, with gold being the most popular. Gold, having become incredibly valuable, became a prime target for theft. People would store their gold with the goldsmith in exchange for a receipt which they could use to reclaim their gold. Since the goldsmith was trusted, the receipt was viewed as "as good as gold" and others would accept it instead of gold, so people would just trade receipts instead of bothering to redeem them first. The goldsmith quickly realized, huh, people value the receipt as much as gold... I can write as many receipts as I want! And fractional reserve banking was born. Then receipt holders realized fuckery was afoot and rushed to redeem their receipts first to get anything they could. And now we have bank runs! But that level of fuckery wasn't enough, now we have an entire banking industry that doesn't even pretend the "notes" have a value tied to anything. So they can (and do) print however much they want, whenever they want, and give it to whoever they want. Basic supply and demand ensures that increased supply in the face of constant demand is going to lower the value of each individual note (inflation). And this says nothing of crooks in government freezing accounts, or cops relieving your of your money on the side of the road. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/us/law-lets-irs-seize-accounts-on-suspicion-no-crime-required.html https://www.businessinsider.com/the-irs-can-seize-your-cash-through-forfeiture-2014-10?op=1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkeS_0NQUZs So why do people put up with this? Simple, the juice is worth the squeeze. The middle men rob us blind, but paying them is still worth it because that's less costly than trading 40,000 chickens to have a house built. Its worth it to have our savings slowly stolen through inflation to be able to use a Credit Card or wire money to someone in Europe to purchase some rare item that they'll ship to us. As bad as fiat is, its still a very valuable form of money. But since fiat isn't backed by gold anymore, is it backed by anything? Yes, its backed by the force of the United States government, military, and police. If you want to own property, you're required to pay taxes in USD or men with guns will come take it from you. Therefore, you have to have it fiat to pay your taxes. You having to have it creates demand, which creates value. The demand/value doesn't have to come from the government though. It can come from people collectively recognizing the value in something. Bitcoin was worthless when it came into existence. People traded it for nothing. It was a nerd toy. But the foundation was strong, and the nerds built something really cool. Their toy had value to lots of people for lots of reasons. For some it was the quasi private transactions that they used to purchase drugs on the silk road. For others it was the principle of sound monetary policy with a fixed supply of 21M coins. Whatever their reasons, people started to value bitcoin greatly, and the price has skyrocketed. I love bitcoin because I recognize its value. Its a store of value that cannot be inflated. It can be transferred to anyone at anytime with me having to ask for permission or give an explanation. If I follow "not your keys, not your coins", it can't be taken from me without my consent. I can transport it without worrying about it being stolen or investigated. Plus all of the standard values of money that apply to other currencies as well. Bitcoin is replacing fiat by providing all of the benefits of fiat without the fuckery of middle men. That's what its backed by. Its backed by encryption and game theory. Its backed by the hash power of miners. Its backed by the nerds who continue to develop with infrastructure that makes it continue to improve. I'll never change your mind, and that's ok. But if I'm right, and bitcoin is on the path to being the world's first choice in currency - if it becomes the stable and inflation free store of value in an incorruptible system - you'll still benefit. You won't have "made money" by recognizing the value early and "investing", but it'll be there for you to store your value in so the middle men in control of fiat can't slowly steal your savings.