I’m tired of hearing statements like:
“Bitcoin has no intrinsic value.”
"Cryptocurrency has no value because there is nothing backing it”
The people that make statements like this tend to value the US Dollar, which is backed by the full faith and credit of an essentially bankrupt government.
I agree that not all cryptocurrencies have significant value. In my world view, value is relative to the observer.
Upon extensive analysis, I see significant, “inherent” value in the Monero (XMR) cryptocurrency. I won’t list all the reasons for my position since this is a simple post, not a dissertation. My assessment of Monero’s value is based primarily on the following features:
Financial Privacy – Value transfers in Monero cannot be tracked. No third-party can identify the sender or recipient(s) in a transaction. Further, no third-party can determine the amount of Monero sent in a transaction. As a result, Monero provides users with financial privacy. I see this feature as having significant value.
Fungibility - Monero is a fungible cryptocurrency. Fungibility is an attribute necessary for a “sound money”. Other cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are not fungible. Certain bitcoin transactions can be classified as having been involved in criminal activity (through blockchain analysis), with the involved bitcoin marked as seizable through asset forfeiture. Monero is immune from such analysis leading to asset forfeiture action. I see this fungibility feature has having significant value.
Finite Supply - Monero supply cannot be created at will by a central bank such as the Federal Reserve. Creating new monetary units dilutes the value of circulating units, this is commonly referred to as inflating the money supply, resulting in a condition known as inflation. Monero can’t be inflated in this manner (Monero does have a tail emission unlike Bitcoin, however, this minimal level of inflation is known and can't be secretly changed.) I see this feature as having significant value.
Security – Monero transactions are secure and Monero cryptocurrency cannot be counterfeited because of the military-grade encryption present in the protocol. I see this feature as representing significant value.
Be-your-own-bank – Users of Monero don’t need an external bank (counter-party) to store and transfer value. When individuals deposit their funds in a traditional bank, they transfer the ownership of those funds to the bank, and they become unsecured creditors of the bank in the process. If the bank is involved in a bail-in, depositors will most likely lose their deposited funds. This risk is avoided using Monero. I see this counter-party risk avoidance as having significant value.
Permissionless – Users of Monero don’t require permission from some authority. Getting set-up with your own wallet, with no cost, using free open-source software is open to all. With banks, you need to apply (ask permission) to open an account, provide identification, and have your transactions viewable to the bank and regulatory oversight not to mention the countless account fees. I view this permissionless feature as possessing significant value.
Elimination of Identity Theft – User’s of Monero do not reveal their identity. As a result, identity theft is not a risk as it is with traditional banking solutions. I see the avoidance of identity theft as a feature having significant value.
As I said earlier there are many other features associated with the Monero cryptocurrency that add to the overall inherent value, I have mentioned a few primary features that are important to me.
So some may say that Monero has no intrinsic value, because it isn’t backed by anything. However, in my opinion the inherent feature set of the Monero cryptocurrency includes:
Financial privacy
Fungibility
Finite supply
Security
Usability (Be Your Own Bank)
Permissionless
Avoidance of identity theft
These are characteristics that are inherent in the Monero protocol itself. While these inherent characteristics/features may not fit the standard definition of “intrinsic value”, they are in fact, implicit features of the protocol that I value.
So it would be accurate to say that Monero's value is not structurally dependent on some external phenomenon (backing by something else). Rather, it stands on its own, with no dependence on something else "backing it". This inherent strength is a result of the protocol itself, and in my opinion provides significant value!
So if someone says “Monero has no intrinsic value", I would respond saying: “Monero has enormous inherent value!”