Any excuse to bash Jamie Dimon and fools alike. The below video nicely summarises the principal argument of every cryptoskeptic I’ve ever conversed with: “…there is no intrinsic value in bitcoin”. 

Wrong. The intrinsic value is in its decentralisation. And quelle surprise that the CEO of a centralised bank thinks otherwise. Decentralisation affords three properties that make bitcoin a sound (and better) store of value:

1. Resistance to censorship. While you may feel like you have control over the fiat in your bank account, a given third party (who will always have their own interests at heart) can at any time (and without notice) take complete control over where and when you spend your money. Decentralised cryptocurrencies like bitcoin cannot be controlled by governments or corporations.

2. Immutability of transactions. People currently rely solely on profit-making third parties (banks) to execute their fiat transactions and maintain truthful transaction histories. They are thus forced into trusting that banks will: [i] not fabricate false transactions, [ii] not manipulate truthful transactions, [iii] actually deliver their money to intended recipients, and [iv] employ sufficient security measures to ensure nobody else can interfere with these processes. Bitcoin transactions cannot be reversed, manipulated or taken away by virtue of the Nakamoto blockchain design and Proof of Work. Tampering with a given transaction would require miners to redo the Work of the block associated with said transaction and every affected block thereafter - this would cost so much money that doing so is completely non-viable.

3. Finite supply. With fiat money, centralised authorities can decide at any stage to print more. They usually package it up with fancy expressions like ‘quantitative easing’ in the hope that you won’t notice that they’re stealing from you. With bitcoin, the inflation schedule is set in code and known to all ahead of time. It therefore cannot be devalued by any one person or government.