But Bitcoin is legitimate.
It is a long discussion that delves into the theory of money and how economies organize themselves around it.
A VERY short example is why do we consider gold to be valuable? Sure, there is some industrial uses for it. People think it is pretty for jewelry (but gold plate is just as "pretty). So on pure economic terms, it might be valued at 5-10% of what it currently is except for society's determination that it is a store of value. Prior to gold, societies have valued silver, copper, salt, sea shells, bronze spades, and in modern times, printed paper issued by fiat exchangeable for gold. Until it wasn't when we went off the gold standard in '71. Ultimately that printed paper is now represented primarily by ones and zeros on computers. Bitcoin is the latest evolution of money. Just like the essentially worthless items before it, it has value because people believe it has value and it is scare. Like gold, it takes vast amounts of energy to "create" (dig up in the case of gold, solve complex equations in the case of bitcoin)
The biggest revolution of bitcoin is it is trustless and finite. Finite meaning there will only ever be 21 million of them. Trustless in the sense that it can be exchanged across vast distances without the need for a trusted intermediary.
I can point those that are interested into a bunch of interesting reads. Or try to answer questions the best I can.
= new reply since forum marked as read