Money existed before there was an intricate system of laws and regulations. Money existed before there were fiat currencies, backed by nothing except a gov’t’s promises. The fact that bitcoin doesn’t have those doesn’t make it any more real, or less real, than any other thing used as currency. It has value because people believe that it has value.
Gold is much the same way. Gold has an intrinsic value for making things that conduct electricity (particularly because it doesn’t corrode), but all other values exist because it’s both relatively rare, and people have decided that it’s pretty.
Currency existed prior to governments; Native Americans in some areas used rare shells as a form of currency; the currency wasn’t a part of their governing process, and by any modern standards, their governments were very loose.
Money existed before there was an intricate system of laws and regulations. Money existed before there were fiat currencies, backed by nothing except a gov’t’s promises. The fact that bitcoin doesn’t have those doesn’t make it any more real, or less real, than any other thing used as currency. It has value because people believe that it has value.
Gold is much the same way. Gold has an intrinsic value for making things that conduct electricity (particularly because it doesn’t corrode), but all other values exist because it’s both relatively rare, and people have decided that it’s pretty.
Money arose at the same time as government. The two are linked.
that’s not true.
Currency existed prior to governments; Native Americans in some areas used rare shells as a form of currency; the currency wasn’t a part of their governing process, and by any modern standards, their governments were very loose.