Does Bitcoin's value stem from 'anti-establishment culture'?

There's some truth to this statement, but it's not comprehensive. Attributing Bitcoin's value solely to "anti-establishment culture" is a bit like saying a house's value comes only from its foundation. The foundation is crucial, but it's not the whole story.

"Anti-establishment" was indeed Bitcoin's starting point and its spark.

Imagine the 2008 global financial crisis, when many people's trust in banks and governments plummeted to an all-time low. People suddenly realized that the money they had worked so hard to earn and deposited in banks could be jeopardized when banks mismanaged things, ultimately requiring government bailouts by printing more money, which devalued the currency held by ordinary citizens.

Against this backdrop, a mysterious figure (or team) named "Satoshi Nakamoto" emerged. He/she/they created Bitcoin with a core idea: Could we create a form of money that doesn't belong to any country or bank, has a fixed supply that no one can inflate, and whose transaction records are publicly transparent and tamper-proof?

You see, this very starting point was imbued with distrust and challenge towards the existing centralized financial system (banks, governments). Therefore, many of the earliest adopters and promoters of Bitcoin were tech geeks, cryptography enthusiasts, and libertarians, who inherently harbored an "anti-establishment" sentiment. What they valued was Bitcoin's ability to offer freedom from control and protection for personal assets.

However, as it has evolved to today, Bitcoin's sources of value have become much more complex.

1. Digital Gold / Store of Value: This is a more mainstream view today. Bitcoin has a hard cap of 21 million coins, and this "scarcity" makes it very similar to gold. When some national currencies depreciate due to inflation (i.e., too much money being printed), some people treat Bitcoin as a safe-haven asset to preserve their wealth. They might buy Bitcoin not necessarily for "anti-establishment" reasons, but simply to maintain the value of their assets.

2. Network Effect: The more people use something, the higher its value. It's like WeChat; if only you used it, it would be worthless. But because all your relatives and friends use it, its value becomes immense. Bitcoin is similar; after more than a decade of development, hundreds of millions of people globally hold or understand it, countless miners secure the network, and numerous companies and institutions have incorporated it into their balance sheets. This vast network of consensus itself is a significant source of its value.

3. Technology and Security: Bitcoin's underlying technology, the blockchain, has proven to be extremely secure and robust after more than a decade of operation. Countless hackers have attempted to attack it, but the Bitcoin network itself has never been breached. This time-tested security gives holders great confidence.

4. Speculative Demand: It must be admitted that a large portion of current market transactions comes from speculation. People buy in, betting that its price will rise higher in the future, then sell for profit. This is fundamentally no different from speculating in stocks or real estate, and significant price volatility primarily stems from this.

In summary:

"Anti-establishment culture" is Bitcoin's "original intention" and soul; it explains why Bitcoin was born and attracted its first core supporters. But today, Bitcoin's value is a hybrid, encompassing not only this cultural spirit of pursuing freedom and decentralization but also scarcity akin to gold, strong network consensus, and pure market speculation.

So, you could say that "anti-establishment culture" was the match that lit the bonfire, but the reason this fire burns so brightly today is that people have continuously added new "firewood" such as "digital gold," "network effect," and "market speculation" to it.