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Comment by soared | Hacker News Reader

Can someone explain how these coins went from zero value to having value? The articles kind of skips over that part, saying that getting listed on exchanges made it worth something.

So simply being able to trade it for real money (+ hype, + limited supply) made it actually worth real money? The only thing that needs to happen for a currency to exist is liquidity and x number of people to think its valuable (who buy/sell it)?

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> The only thing that needs to happen for a currency to exist is liquidity and x number of people to think its valuable (who buy/sell it)?

Yes? Of course, trading can vanish just as quickly as it came.

Cryptocurrency acts as a transfer currency. If I want to send someone $1 worth of Dogecoin, I spend a dollar on the exchange, and whomever is willing to give me the most Dogecoin to get my dollar wins and sets the trading price. Of course, this is limited by how much Dogecoin people have that they are willing to sell.

Mainly its psychology; what people expect to happen determines how they trade and thus what does happen. So you end up with a chaotic system and an unstable currency.

I think you just answered your own question. The only thing that needs to happen for a currency to exist is liquidity and people to think its valuable.

This is the same way Bitcoin came to be worth $1800.

Yes. Anything someone is willing to give you something for has value.

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