Colorado School of Mines offers first space mining degrees - images

[Jon]

It helps me to think of it like gold. Industrially, gold isn't that valuable; steel is worth much more. The qualities that make gold valuable (scarcity, fungibility, immutability, resistance to forgery) are the same ones that make cryptocurrencies valuable. This doesn't mean that bitcoin will or won't succeed, just helps to place it in your mind.

[mklotz]

It helps me to think of it like gold. Industrially, gold isn't that valuable; steel is worth much more. The qualities that make gold valuable (scarcity, fungibility, immutability, resistance to forgery) are the same ones that make cryptocurrencies valuable. This doesn't mean that bitcoin will or won't succeed, just helps to place it in your mind.

What, exactly, are they mining and how is this mining being done?

I seem to remember some pictures (perhaps from a previous post of yours) where they were "mining" bitcoin in what appeared to be factory-like buildings equipped with machinery of some sort. It seemed more like manufacturing than mining.

Does bitcoin have any intrinsic value or is it, like paper money, valued by agreement between its users?