On Marxism and the Value of Bitcoin

What is bitcoin worth? That would seem like a fairly easy question, answerable by simply checking the top banner of this very page. But what gives it this value? That would seem to depend on who you ask. 

Proof of Work

There are some for whom the answer to even this question appears simple.

Bitcoin has value because there is a cost in terms of processing power and energy usage to mine it. Right? This is essentially Marx’s Labour Theory of Value, and the parallels are drawn in this P2P Foundation article.

Marx claims that everything has an intrinsic value, created by the amount of work/effort/ labor required to create it. So, according to this, as long the cost of mining keeps increasing then the value of bitcoin will continue to rise.

Fool Proof

The problem is that the Labour Theory of Value is a complete fallacy.

Whilst you may price something based on the amount of work it took to create, the actual value comes from something else entirely.

There is a relationship between…