“Bitcoin has no intrinsic value.”

“Bitcoin has no intrinsic value.”

It’s probably the most repeated criticism of Bitcoin. And also one of the most misunderstood. 🧡

Usually, Bitcoin supporters answer by saying: “well… fiat currencies don’t have intrinsic value either.”

But maybe that avoids the real discussion.

Because the interesting question is not: “Does Bitcoin produce cash flows?” but rather: “What properties belong to the essential nature of Bitcoin itself?”

The dictionary defines intrinsic as: “belonging to the essential nature of a thing.”

And Bitcoin does have intrinsic characteristics.

Not promises. Not marketing. Characteristics.

For 17 years:

• the network has operated without interruption
• anyone could run a node
• anyone with the correct private key could move funds
• no one without the correct key could seize them
• transactions settled globally without asking for permission
• the rules remained transparent and predictable

Always.

That predictability has value.
Maybe more value than we realize.

Because most systems around us are becoming increasingly unpredictable:

• monetary policy changes
• banking restrictions
• capital controls
• censorship
• shifting regulations
• geopolitical fragmentation

Bitcoin behaves differently.

Its rules are visible, open and extremely difficult to alter arbitrarily.

And perhaps this is where the comparison becomes interesting: Bitcoin is a bit like a mountain peak.

It doesn’t “produce” anything. It’s barren in the traditional economic sense.

But people still seek it.

Because it is there. Because it is reliable.
Because it represents challenge, freedom and permanence in a changing world.

You can orient yourself around a mountain. You can rely on it still being there tomorrow.

Predictability itself becomes valuable.

And maybe that is Bitcoin’s deepest intrinsic value: reliability.

A system that, despite everything, continues to do exactly what it said it would do. 🧡