Here is a list of some of the money-like assets the world needs to function everyday. People everywhere use these assets both for transacting with each other and for storing wealth.

  Current market capitalization in US dollars:
  
  Global money supply (broad)              over $90.0 trillion [a]
  US dollar money supply (M2)                   $13.8 trillion [b]
  Euro money supply (M2)                        $13.2 trillion [c]
  All coins and banknotes in circulation         $7.6 trillion [d]
  All gold ever mined                            $7.1 trillion [e]
  Bitcoin                                  under $0.2 trillion [f]

We could debate forever whether any of these assets is "fairly valued" or not, but surely everyone here agrees that if all of them suddenly disappeared, the global economy would ground to a halt and modern society would collapse. Together, these and other money-like assets provide immense value to humankind.

Compared to the other money-like assets on the list, Bitcoin is very different. Like gold, Bitcoin's continued existence doesn't depend on the good management of any national economy; however, it depends on the continued existence of the Internet. Unlike the other assets on the list, bitcoins are digital so they can be encrypted, backed up, emailed, etc. Finally, bitcoins will always be scarce -- no more than 21 million bitcoins will ever exist. Bitcoin is truly a new kind of money-like asset.

The trillion-dollar question is, to what extent does the world need, to function in the 21st century, a money-like asset with Bitcoin's unique characteristics?

Sources: [a] http://money.visualcapitalist.com/worlds-money-markets-one-v... [b] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2 [c] http://sdw.ecb.europa.eu/reports.do?node=1000003501 [d] http://money.visualcapitalist.com/worlds-money-markets-one-v... [e] https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/08/17/how-does-bitcoins-... [f] https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/