Is Bitcoin's Value an 'Objective Reality' or an 'Illusion of Collective Consensus'?

This question is actually quite interesting, as it touches upon the very essence of all "money."

Think of it this way: a 100-yuan bill in your wallet is essentially just a piece of paper with some printing on it, costing perhaps a few cents to produce. Why can it buy 100 yuan worth of goods? It's because we all "believe" it's worth 100 yuan—merchants believe it, banks believe it, and you and I believe it. This is a massive "collective consensus." If one day everyone decided this piece of paper was useless, it would truly be no different from scrap paper.

Bitcoin operates on a very similar logic, yet with some distinctions.

Its value is primarily based on "collective consensus." Millions of people globally believe it has value and are willing to buy it with real money, thus giving it value. The stronger this consensus, and the more people willing to buy it, the higher its value. From this perspective, it's somewhat similar to gold, diamonds, or even luxury handbags, whose intrinsic utility (gold's conductivity, diamonds' ability to cut glass) is far less than their market value; much of their value stems from people's consensus.

However, this consensus isn't a baseless "illusion"; it's built upon some objectively existing characteristics of Bitcoin:

1. Absolute Scarcity: Bitcoin's total supply is hardcoded at 21 million, no more, no less. This is unlike fiat currencies, which can be printed indefinitely. Scarcity provides the foundation for a store of value, which is the fundamental reason it can be compared to "digital gold."
2. Decentralization: It doesn't belong to any country, bank, or company. No one can arbitrarily shut it down, freeze your Bitcoin (as long as you secure your private keys), or inflate its supply. This sense of "ownership in one's own hands" is very appealing in certain situations.
3. Easy Transferability: You can send Bitcoin worth hundreds of millions, much like sending an email, to anyone on the other side of the world within minutes, with relatively low fees and without various bank approvals in between.

So, the conclusion is:

The value of Bitcoin is essentially a "collective consensus" built upon objective technical characteristics.

It's not a pure "illusion," because the scarcity, decentralization, and other features supporting this consensus are real and guaranteed by code. But it's also not something with "objective physical use value" like grain or oil; if it were to lose everyone's consensus, it would indeed just be a bunch of code.

In short, it's more like a consensus asset. Its value is what people "believe" it to be, and this "belief" is justified by its inherent technical design.