1. People see it as a store of value
2. It has some useful physical properties
3. People use it as a decoration
Possibly there are other reasons as well, but those are the ones that come immediately to mind. As far as I can tell, Bitcoin only shares attribute #1. It doesn’t have intrinsic properties that make it useful into larger systems (though perhaps we just haven’t found the right systems yet?), and people don’t feel it’s intrinsically valuable. Not to completely bash Bitcoin though — if enough people find it valuable it can become a useful way to exchange value. Right now it’s just pretty bad at that.
* Can only pull new bitcoin into existence by paying a hefty market-determined price.
* Can transfer them iff you know a certain secret.
* Can verify that a certain number of bitcoin are linked to a specific secret.
* Can technically transfer bitcoin without approval from a legally blessed 3rd party
There is no asset outside of crypto with those properties. Turns out that combination is worth, so far, billions. Probably more as it settles in and people get used to the idea. Will Bitcoin last forever like gold? No. Will it last long enough? Looks like it. Is crypto valuable? Judgement is in, market says yes.
It already is a useful way to exchange value, people do it all the time.
People love to say this, but frankly it is so unrealistic as to border on untrue. It’s a lot to remember. And you can’t transact with “your head” alone, you still need to interface with a computer of sorts; in the event you’re fleeing it’s probably not so easy to purchase a hardware wallet or download the TB-scale blockchain.
12 words is enough. For example: witch collapse practice feed shame open despair creek road again ice least. If you can make a story that incorporates those words, it's even easier to remember.
> you still need to interface with a computer of sorts
You flee a nasty place towards a nice place. Nice places have computers and internet.
Don't most people who invest in gold use ETCs/ETFs, certificates etc.?
I don't think gold trading is significantly far off instantaneous, at this point, and it's probably easier to cash out.
The underlying model is corrupt and nakedly stupid.
At this point it is no longer reasonable to just claim it is a greater fools game without an argument for why. The evidence right now seems to put it in a similar category to gold in that people generally don't like that it has value, but nonetheless value is present.
I also draw people's attention to the parallel with something like a RAID array - it is possible to make robust systems out of unreliable parts. The abundance of scammy and scummy operators in the crypto space is quite consistent with the similar prevalence in traditional finance. The system is robust regardless.