Re:Is There a Cryptocurrency Bubble? Just Ask Doge
by aboodman on Sunday September 17, 2017 @12:31PM
(#15270369)
All currencies have that trait. USD has a value that is famously propped up because of its ubiquitous utility. Everyone wants/needs dollars (to trade w/ US, to pay US taxes, to use as a reserve currency, etc). This demand increases the cost of dollars relative to everything else.
The only reason it is harder to notice with crypto is because the size of the market you can use crypto in is so ridiculously small (relative to a national currency) that investment value and speculative effects dominate.
Because these are both embedded into the coin valuation it feels more like stock to me than currency. Specifically it might be like owning stock in eTrade, which has utility value as a platform for trading stock, and an arbitrary value based on consumer demand.