Don't spend them. Hold them tightly.

Let us engage in a philosophical exercise. How do we value things? How do you know that your couch is worth $100? How do you know that it costs $15 in taxi fare to get from your house to the restaurant?

How do you know?

People tend to disrespect markets, because they equate them with capitalism. Capitalism has a bad rap right now, which is unfair. Most people can't define capitalism. Can you?

Markets tell us what assets are worth, whether it be furniture, taxi fare, or sophisticated financial products. They tell us how much a barrel of oil costs, how much a babysitter costs; markets rule.

Do you know what the estimated world stock market value is? It is roughly $50 trillion. Do you know the value of the current global money supply? Of course not. Nobody does. But we have proxies. If you include M3, which is about the limit of useful money, then you are looking at around $50 trillion as well. No relation, frankly.

What is the value of all assets in the world? Well, it's hard to say, but it is at least a few quadrillion dollars.

What does this all mean? To understand it properly you need to comprehend markets. Value does not equate to utility. Value is a crude instantaneous measure of what people will pay for something at any given point in time, multiplied by its inventory.

Taken to an extreme, two people can create an asset valued at $1 trillion. For instance, Joe and Rogan can take a bag of legos (let's say there are 1 billion legos) and create an exchange. If Joe buys a single lego piece for $1,000, then the market value of the legos they own is $1 trillion. But of course this is absurd. Clearly the legos are not worth that much. But if Joe and Rogan refuse to trade with anybody else, then their loot is technically worth $1 trillion.

The point is two-fold: that little money can support a grand economy. For instance, Apple is worth about $400 billion at the moment, even though US M1 (a measure of highly liquid, or high powered, money) is only about $2 trillion. Is Apple worth almost a quarter of the US economy? Of course not. It is just one company. But because money moves, we have to look at something called velocity. Velocity is the speed and regularity at which money moves, and as it increases, the value of the monetary unit decreases.

The second point is that some assets serve as a store of value. Take gold for instance. The total market valuation for gold is around $12 trillion. Who uses gold? Nobody. Do you own gold? If you do, you are in a group that comprises less than 3% of the global population. Why is it that gold can maintain such a dominant valuation?

Many people wish to spread the good word of Bitcoin through spending them and introducing it to their friends. While the future of Bitcoin does rest upon its uptake; the number of people who adopt it willingly, its value does not.

Spread away, but remember that every expenditure increases the velocity and thus impacts the value in a negative fashion.

In conclusion, Bitcoin can thrive when those who own it decide NOT to spend or sell it, because spending is equivalent to selling. When you spend Bitcoin, you sell them for goods and services, which are indistinguishable from other currencies, such as fiat.

A rising valuation attracts people who would accept Bitcoin. There is no need to convince them that it is in their best interest.

Don't spend them. Hold them tight. And watch the miracle of market valuation play its course. When the time is right, people will be begging for your Bitcoins. After all, Bitcoins are quite superior to legos.