, Columnist
The Bitcoin Collective Delusion
Bitcoin has value because some people engage in a form of delusion that invests any currency with value.
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When I first started traveling for work, I was surprised and amused by the various currencies I saw. Pre-euro, one would encounter a multitude of paper bills of different sizes and colors, each imprinted with a famous man or woman I probably hadn't heard of.
Imagine that: The locals actually believed these silly pieces of colored paper had value. Sure, paper currency worked as a medium of exchange, and it allowed you to buy goods and services within that society. But how far off was it to observe that this shared belief system was little more than a collective delusion? Take the paper to another land that didn't share that belief system -- they had their own, different delusion -- and the paper seemed to be worthless.