OMG! I thought it was an aweful article. Words and terms like blockchain and bitcoin and intrinsic value seem to me as being conflated.
I'm all for the blockchain technology as a leger. Bitcoin is fine for being a fiat currency. And I use the term currency loosely . At least it isnì't issued bearing interst. And I certainly love seeing the two combined to drive central banking into obsolescence. But to say, or imply, bitcoin's intrinsic value is its network strength that it currently has amongst users and observers of cryptocurrentcies is hog wash.
I can take a piece of gold, whether it is coined or not, place it on a stye that might form on my eye or yours and it will begin rapid healing and become significantly smaller in a relatively short period of tme. Hours to a day or two. This is usefulness or value that gold contains, although not its only one.
Outside of a group keeping score on a leger of who has the encoded result of a machine generated equation, what can a bitcoin do? Remove any logs you might see in my eye?