Please help me understand Bitcoin

I need some help understanding BTC guys, and I’m hoping one of you here may be able to give me the perspective or insight I have been looking for and failed to find. Now before I get started, please understand, I do own a fairly inconsequential amount of BTC and crypto and I have been in the crypto world since 2017 since around BTC $5000. And no, I’m not a boomer, I’m a millennial.

I’m sure this thread will get a lot of hate, downvotes, HFSP, “just read the bitcoin standard”, “you just don’t get it” or “Tether FUD”! But I’m really hoping there will be one of you here with a view that makes everything click for me. And please don’t turn me to the likes of like Pomp, Pysh, or Carter, I wouldn’t turn to Peter Schiff for something like gold, these guys all have their obvious reasons for pushing what they push. The crypto world has many insanely innovative minds but I’m hoping to also find some educational and kind ones in it, HERE. Where no one is trying to sell me anything, just help others understand. This thread isn’t meant to bash crypto by any means, just to hopefully clear confusion and expand views. Everything I have ever done in my life has been very analytical with great success and so I thought crypto would be the easy piece to figure out but alas too much just does not click for me. I’ll present my views below, please help me see if there’s anything else I’m missing or viewing incorrectly.

I own hard assets, tangible assets because I do share the view that non-backed FIAT is worthless (outside of its only intrinsic value being creating warmth when burnt and it being currently backed by the US military complex and Gov.). It will continue to be printed out of thin air and at an ever-increasing pace. The race to the bottom between these FIAT currencies is to the bottom. I’m sorry I don’t currently subscribe to the MMT view, I’ve read Stephanie Kelton’s book twice now and I just don’t see how the entire charade doesn’t end with inflation/hyperinflation. I’ve also read numerous macro, trend books with one of my favorite being “A short history of financial euphoria” and many of the similarities to today are actually alarming to me.

In that aspect, BTC is a go for me because it is limited to 21M coins. However, how are these truly limited? There are no actual, tangible coins (pro or con depending on how you look at it) and there have been multiple forks already. How can something truly scarce and limited be spawned off or created out of thin air? (i.e Bitcoin cash etc…). Now yes, BTC itself remains unchanged and the new fork will either die off or attain whatever its value ultimately will be but what stops future forks from overtaking the original BTC if there is sufficient popularity or network backing? Some have told me “Think of it as a dividend”. Great but dividends are paid out on a regular basis and an asset that is supposed to yield 0% does not yield you a dividend. I equate this to gold shedding new little metallic offspring every once in a while…. Would never happen. I also personally do not like that any transaction I make will cost me a fraction of my actual asset (sometimes upwards of 5%!). I can purchase other assets and pay a fiat fee. To further add to this particular question, why are these specific 21M so much rarer? Ok, first player moves but more importantly network effect. The network is what give the BTC technology it’s current valuation. The more people participate, the more buy-in, the larger the network, the higher the price of BTC. Nothing stops new technology from being created (see the other 2100+ coins in existence), the majority of which will be worthless but what happens when a new technology that is more efficient, expeditious, desirable comes on the scene? Yes, I am aware these do already exist but they lack 1 major thing to overtake BTC. Network effect. What happens once-popular sentiment shifts? If I don’t have a network effect then how is this now worth anything more or less than something like my truck running on idle solving sudoku puzzles that I can send via the internet? (Extreme comparison I know but a valid one).

I don’t think it’s a question of if but when. Network effects have been studied for some time and we’ve all seen shifts from MySpace to Facebook, AOL to Google etc… Technology improves and networks shift. Physics cannot. This is also why I struggle to comprehend why BTC is represented by a gold coin and has mining references. If I wanted gold, I would buy gold. I don’t believe in the gold 2.0 comparison. Plenty of history books will depict how the 2 are vastly different but I’m not here as a gold bug or to defend gold. I am here to understand BTC.

What is its intrinsic value? I know this is a tough question to answer, I am aware but anything I can tangibly hold in my hand can be used from anything as a paperweight, to burn and create warmth or used in electronics, dentistry, construction, etc…If I can’t hold my asset, where is its intrinsic value? I’ve heard that the Network effect is where its intrinsic value lays. Ok fine, but referring to my previous point, what happens when that shifts? If the network is down, or energy prices continue to explode, what is the intrinsic value of something digital, non-tangible that I cannot re-purpose?

My next question is in regards to stablecoin effects on BTC. I do personally believe Tether is a massive elephant in the room and needs to be addressed. If you disagree then feel free to skip this portion but I do believe it is a massive looming systemic concern. Yes, I know “It’s no different than Mt. Gox”, “FUD”, “It’s market cap is so small” etc… I’m familiar with all the counters. You cannot disregard some of the work done depicting its nearly 0% backing, the increasing regulatory risk to it, and the fines that have come out. No innocent party would refuse to do a full audit and no NOT an attestation, a full audit. I do believe it poses a systemic risk. Ok then so what? Let Tether fail, and wait for cheaper BTC entry. Great, but if BTC can be easily manipulated by stable coins, what stops future stable coins from doing the same (CBDCs), and how does that not make this an identical situation to what Fiat currencies are currently doing?

Next, I’d like to ask about the pseudo-anonymity and ledger. I do not care to have my government track my transactions. There is currently a policy proposal to have any amounts over $600 disclosed to the government. The BTC ledger would reveal any and all transactions ever done for anyone to see. This comes off as a huge negative for me. Yes, the convenience of the ledger is nice and the blockchain is revolutionary -that there is no doubt. But my business and transactions are of no concern to the Government. To make matters more difficult, since there is no tangibility, I cannot even transact behind the scenes (i.e black market) to say hand a bitcoin or couple sats to my neighbor without it being recorded somewhere and with a gas fee.

I’m sure to many this post will come across as a critical one but let me state that I have also heard many critiques that I do not contend with such as the high energy costs. I don’t believe that is a problem, in fact, I believe it is a BENEFIT. Also, for the record, I’m not a bear. I do believe it will hit $100k sooner than later and likely much higher. But as a value investor, I need to know something is cheap and has value. Please help me comprehend how BTC is where I should be allocating my time and money. Sure there is the cost of not investing and being wrong, opportunity-cost, but I come here for your insights.

If you feel the above are just criticism, I apologize, to those taking the time to reply and help change and form my view, thank you. Thanks Redditors, I appreciate your time.