Is Bitcoin in any way valuable?

[OilemFirchen]

58. And the crowd roars!

Yes, you can "trade" your dollars for a part of the Treasury. You can buy a bond or a T-Bill. But there's no need, because your dollar already is a "part of the Treasury". It may be difficult to wrap your brain around this, but dollars are backed by the Treasury in the form of bonds, and bonds are redeemable in dollars.

You also need to understand the concept of fiat currency. Fiat currency has no value in and of itself, it's merely a token which "represents" legal tender. The reason that your dollar has value is that it's redeemable for goods and services, because it has a measurable and consistent value... because it's backed by the Treasury.

So, back to the gist of the issue. Your bitcoin is backed by the dollar (or euro, or pound, or whatever - all of which are valued relative to the U.S. dollar). Accordingly, in order to get into the market you have to use actual currency and, short of the diminishing vendors who'll accept your bitcoin as payment for a good or service, the only way to redeem your bitcoin is by payment in actual currency.

You're the one who said it: The value of a bitcoin is X dollars. IOW, your "alternative" to fiat currency is valued against fiat currency. Get it?