1. The supply is nonetheless constrained and immutably fixed; what is the relevance of whether it is by contract or law of nature?
2. What do you mean by "real" infrastructure? Crypto-mining rigs are no less real than actual mines.
My argument would be that gold's value is as much a social construct as that of crypto; value is just a function of supply and demand.
I'm guessing you might post that there is a third input: utility. "Currency" is one use for gold, but can certainly serve many purposes, whereas crypto coins are strictly used as currency. That fact is presumably taken into account by a coin's price; nonetheless, it still has whatever value the market says it has at any time.
Except none of the crypto "currency" is used as currency at all, and never will.
It's used as a crypto asset. For speculation.
Or even worse, straight up fraud.
The only time I heard crypto was used as currency, is the infamous pizza a decade ago
2. What do you mean by "real" infrastructure? Crypto-mining rigs are no less real than actual mines.
My argument would be that gold's value is as much a social construct as that of crypto; value is just a function of supply and demand.
I'm guessing you might post that there is a third input: utility. "Currency" is one use for gold, but can certainly serve many purposes, whereas crypto coins are strictly used as currency. That fact is presumably taken into account by a coin's price; nonetheless, it still has whatever value the market says it has at any time.