The Question

I was trying to explain cryptocurreny to my friend's dad a few hours ago. I was doing a good job but then he threw me a curve-ball. He asked, "If fiat currency is based on gold, then what is crypto's value based on?" I started with the correction that our money is actually based on gdp, maybe even the petro-dollar. I thought I had somewhere to go from there. I opened my dumb mouth but nothing smart came out. I got flustered and just said it kind of just appears out of thin air. He told me that's why people don't trust it. Well played old man. Score: 0-1.

The Answer

I knew that what I had said was wrong and I couldn't stop thinking about it. Was it supply and demand? Was it global convenience? Is it really simply speculative like everyone says? No... then it hit me like a ton of bricks: the Blockchain is backed by INTEGRITY.

Explanation

How many currencies go under because the government just prints more money and spends it? How many banks spend your money and never have enough to pay off everyone with an account? Oh wait, they all do that. How many corrupted backdoor trades are going on right now, right under our noses?

Blockchains are open source, encrypted, and decentralized. The grand vision of Satoshi Nakamoto is that we all get to know the rules behind the commodity that rules us: money. We can see the inflation, if any. We can see the pre-mine, if any. Our wallets can only be accessed by us, anywhere on the globe. Hell, we can even see every transaction ever made on the blockchain. Most importantly, the rules of the game can't change without us knowing about it. These mind boggling prospects haven't even come close to being realized by average Joe. No wonder Bitcoin is often referenced as gold 2.0.

I got in an argument with a Steemian today. He said Bitcoin's value is capped because it's just a currency. It can only do things a currency could do. Really? Just a currency? The thing that literally drives the entire world? Not to mention that it's just flat out provably wrong. There are many posts on Steemit advocating Blockchain voting and government. I myself have even mentioned wanting to bring trials and judges to Steemit.

The next time someone tries to tell you the value of crypto is purely speculative, let them know the truth. Let them know that they should trust a good blockchain, because a good blockchain is 'literally' built on a foundation of trust; much unlike most governments.