[AnneOminous]

But you CAN trade Bitcoins for things, not just currency.

You can trade Bitcoins directly for more hardware to mine Bitcoins. So it IS a reversible transaction, and Bitcoins are DIRECTLY (not indirectly) valued at approximately the cost of mining and distribution.

Don't confuse "indirect value" with "indirect measurement of value". They are different things.

[dragonwriter]

> But you CAN trade Bitcoins for things, not just currency.

The value for which you can trade a currency is its extrinsic value. Insofar as "intrinsic value" is meaningful, it refers to the value you can derive from a thing without exchanging it with someone else.

> You can trade Bitcoins directly for more hardware to mine Bitcoins.

Yes, you can buy things with Bitcoins. That's the definition of a currency's extrinsic value.

> So it IS a reversible transaction

No, if mining was reversible, you could recover the resources expending in mining bitcoins without trading the bitcoin to someone else in the market, the way you can make industrial or ornamental use of gold in your possession without trading that gold to someone else for industrial tools or ornamentation.

> and Bitcoins are DIRECTLY (not indirectly) valued at approximately the cost of mining and distribution.

"Direct value" isn't a well-defined phrase, and isn't the one that was under discussion. Intrinsic value of currency is better defined, and is what was being discussed, and bitcoin doesn't have any of that traceable to its mining cost.