this is assuming there is and will always be demand for 100 fictitious, non-existent digital-only "assets", which, in my opinion, is somewhat of a stretch
The argument for BTC as value today is similar to that of the dollar (world’s currency). If you want to describe both as an “agreed upon store of value used for exchange of assets like commodities, equities, real estate, they are the same idea. Only BTC will go up in value per unit over time, while the dollar will lose its value over time. To use BTC for purchasing power, sell to USD, use USD to purchase.
Much like real estate has outpaced inflation the past decades, BTC is doing the same only at a much faster appreciation rate. It’s a long duration asset, is highly volatile and so better to know how to best purchase it as a part of the cycle, but even still over it’s 12-13 year existence it has beat inflation more than real estate, commodities, equities, fixed-income assets, and gold/silver.
People saying crypto is not real like equities, and that companies are “real” and that’s why people buy their shares is short-sighted. Nobody buys Amazon stock because it’s great to own the stock, they do so to get a return on their money. If you want to use Amazon, you buy something from their website. Equites are a mechanism for capital formation and growth, and crypto is the same, just based on a different financial system. Like the internet, you will see more companies evolve over time as crypto-first, it will just take time. Crypto companies already create economic value in that they create jobs, and will only create more jobs over time. The reason it creates jobs is it pulls investment capital, used to pay people, which can then be used for innovation. I feel this economic function alone is way overlooked, and parallels with early internet days.
Many incorrectly thought BTC would protect against an equities market downturn, or would increase in value more when inflation became higher. Both are incorrect, and crypto has traded as a risk-on asset due to its risk profile of extremely high volatility. From an investment standpoint, it’s like tech stocks on steroids.
If you self custody it is 100% decoupled from the global financial system, minus the need for an on-ramp of funds. The crypto equivalent to the dollar are stablecoins. BTC, SOL, ETH, etc each are forms of digital properties and each bring legitimate forms of financial value, including a community ecosystem building defi apps, games, casinos, and more on their core network. BTC is slow AF, so it doesn’t serve this function as a fully automated settlement layers, which are permission-less, decentralized and immutable.
