You're arguing semantics, switching between a strict definition of "backed" and thinking of value as it suits you.
And if you want to be that picky, Bitcoin is backed by math and energy (or at least heat). You can exchange bitcoin at any time by doing a 1 satoshi transaction and pay the transaction fees. As a result, you will redeem the answer to a very specific math problem and some heat that will be delivered to you at the rate of diffusion through the atmosphere.
> You're arguing semantics, switching between a strict definition of "backed" and thinking of value as it suits you.
Can you show me where I'm swapping? I don't think I am. It's not semantics anyway, its a fundamental definition of what a backed currency means! The value of my car isn't backed by all the petrol I have used in it, nor is bitcoin backed by the electricity used to produce it.
> You can exchange bitcoin at any time by doing a 1 satoshi transaction and pay the transaction fees. As a result, you will redeem the answer to a very specific math problem and some heat that will be delivered to you at the rate of diffusion through the atmosphere.
This is not what backing means - at all. Backing doesn't mean "is expensive to make", it means its value "has a direct correspondence to the cost of another commodity".
So a few questions to test if it is backed:
* Is the price of bitcoin directly linked to the cost of electricity? (No - there is a relationship between bitcoin price and the amount of energy used for bitcoin mining, but I can't track electricity and use that to guess what the cost of a bitcoin is and visa-versa). Meanwhile, Tether IS backed by USD so I can use the historic value of tether in BTC to act as a proxy to understand how much BTC cost in USD.
* Have we seen the cost of bitcoin track global electricity prices? (No!)
* If abundant cheap energy is discovered tomorrow, does bitcoin become valueless? (I believe no, it maintains value!)
Almost all modern currencies aren't backed, nor do they need to be, so this is a weird hill to fight for.
And if you want to be that picky, Bitcoin is backed by math and energy (or at least heat). You can exchange bitcoin at any time by doing a 1 satoshi transaction and pay the transaction fees. As a result, you will redeem the answer to a very specific math problem and some heat that will be delivered to you at the rate of diffusion through the atmosphere.