Bitcoin update.

[Rjk]

But its nothing like a ponzi.

Miners mine the bitcoin. Existential arguments aside for now, we assume IT is a thing, it is on the bitcoin ledger and thus now existing. The miner now has a thing, the miner goes to the market and sells it, and then that thing is bought, sold and traded and exists (again putting aside the question exist). A Ponzi is robbing peter to pay paul, where nothing exists i fail to see the similarity.

but the question remains over the value of "the thing"
If you mine up a load of gold, the price will go up or down, but you'd expect there to be a floor below which it won't go, because the gold itself has some use.

At the moment many people want bitcoin, but only because they think the price will go up. If everyone thinks the price will go down then it will go down, everyone will sell and it will become completely worthless. There is no floor.

It is relying on enough people believing they can make money out of having it to retain any value. like tinkerbell coming back to life in peter pan.
If enough people lose faith in that then its dead.