What is it tangibly backed by?

Energy.

To be "backed", a currency must be directly tradable with whatever it is backed by. That is what "backed by" means. It is common to make the claim that Btc or crypto in general is backed by energy, yet none of those currencies can be exchanged for energy. (not counting paying your electrical bill or buying batteries) Indeed, none of them can be exchanged for anything at all unless both people believe it can be.

In the case of an actual asset, like PMs, there is no worry about whether or not your PMs can be exchanged for something else because they have intrinsic value (value having nothing to do with belief, but rather value that has been given to an asset by Natural Law or the Universe itself). This is not a complicated concept, yet because Olympic level mental gymnastics is required, and the brainwashing so well developed for the True Believers, this concept is very difficult for any Btc proponent to understand, yet the easiest thing in the world for everyone else. The problem is, those who have invested in Btc or other such useless currencies must create belief to justify their often "all in" investment, and thus must miss out on the simplicity of this concept. It is because of this contrived belief that one allows themselves to make up such nonsense as:

Btc is backed by energy

No it is not. Not even in the slightest little bit, or under the most wild contrivance of definitions. You can't trade your Btc for energy in any direct way. There is zero "energy value" there.

What is petrodollar backed by? Oil, a.k.a. ENERGY

Well, I disagree that the "petrodollar" actually existed in the sense this idea is used. It was only a useful concept for countries, not people, and even there, it was total bullshit. Regardless, even assuming that the petrodollar really was backed by oil, the key there is, the petrodollar is backed by Oil, not "energy". Oil has an intrinsic energy property (as the basis of all organic chemistry, it has a lot more value than just "energy"). This energy value, and all of its other chemical properties that make it useful chemical stock for actual physical goods (plastics, pharmaceuticals, tire rubber, etc., etc.) are properties given to it by the Universe. Those properties can't be taken away by changing belief. They are fundamental AKA intrinsic. Btc on the other hand has no properties like that, nor can it be directly exchanged for something like that ("backed by").

Do you see the difference? The petrodollar is backed by actual physical usable assets. Btc takes energy to make. That energy is lost to entropy forever. There is no backing there. You can't get it back to do future work. The mining of Btc is the work. That work is now done and lost. We had energy, which was positive, the mining happens, and the "total energy column" is now a loss. That loss is called "backed by" by Btc proponents. That is what mental gymnastics looks like, in this case a lie that a loss of a thing is a gain, or storage, of a thing.

It is utter nonsense, and yet smart people are still confused by this simple concept.

That is the power of bias; the need for black to be white because of the potential for personal loss . When you build your house on sand, you need to believe the ocean, sitting 50 feet away, will never rise high enough to take out your foundation. It doesn't matter that that's not how things actually work--eventually there will be a storm--what matters is the investment. The cost of being wrong is so high that people literally stick their head in the sand to try to protect themselves from their inevitable doom.

What is it tangibly backed by?

Energy.

To be "backed", a currency must be directly tradable with whatever it is backed by. That is what "backed by" means. It is common to make the claim that Btc or crypto in general is backed by energy, yet none of those currencies can be exchanged for energy. (not counting paying your electrical bill or buying batteries) Indeed, none of them can be exchanged for anything at all unless both people believe it can be.

In the case of an actual asset, like PMs, there is no worry about whether or not your PMs can be exchanged for something else because they have intrinsic value (value having nothing to do with belief, but rather value that has been given to an asset by Natural Law or the Universe itself). This is not a complicated concept, yet because Olympic level mental gymnastics is required, and the brainwashing so well developed for the True Believers, this concept is very difficult for any Btc proponent to understand, yet the easiest thing in the world for everyone else. The problem is, those who have invested in Btc or other such useless currencies must create belief to justify their often "all in" investment, and thus must miss out on the simplicity of this concept. It is because of this contrived belief that one allows themselves to make up such nonsense as:

Btc is backed by energy

No it is not. Not even in the slightest little bit, or under the most wild contrivance of definitions. You can't trade your Btc for energy in any direct way. There is zero "energy value" there.

What is petrodollar backed by? Oil, a.k.a. ENERGY

Well, I disagree that the "petrodollar" actually existed in the sense this idea is used. It was only a useful concept for countries, not people, and even there, it was total bullshit. Regardless, even assuming that the petrodollar really was backed by oil, the key there is, the petrodollar is backed by Oil, not "energy". Oil has an intrinsic energy property (as the basis of all organic chemistry, it has a lot more value than just "energy"). This energy value, and all of its other chemical properties that make it useful chemical stock for actual physical goods (plastics, pharmaceuticals, tire rubber, etc., etc.) are properties given to it by the Universe. Those properties can't be taken away by changing belief. They are fundamental AKA intrinsic. Btc on the other hand has no properties like that, nor can it be directly exchanged for something like that ("backed by").

Do you see the difference? The petrodollar is backed by actual physical usable assets. Btc takes energy to make. That energy is lost to entropy forever. There is no backing there. You can't get it back to do future work. The mining of Btc is the work. That work is now done and lost. We had energy, which was positive, the mining happens, and the "total energy column" is now a loss. That loss is called "backed by" by Btc proponents. That is what mental gymnastics looks like, in this case a lie that a loss of a thing is a gain, or storage, of a thing.

It is utter nonsense, and yet smart people are still confused by this simple concept.

That is the power of bias; the need for black to be white because of the potential for personal loss . When you build your house on sand, you need to believe the ocean, sitting 50 feet away, will never rise high enough to take out your foundation. It doesn't matter that that's not how things actually work--eventually there will be a storm--what matters is the investment. The cost of being wrong is so high that people literally stick their head in the sand to protect themselves from their inevitable doom.

What is it tangibly backed by?

Energy.

To be "backed", a currency must be directly tradable with whatever it is backed by. That is what "backed by" means. It is common to make the claim that Btc or crypto in general is backed by energy, yet none of those currencies can be exchanged for energy. (not counting paying your electrical bill or buying batteries) Indeed, none of them can be exchanged for anything at all unless both people believe it can be.

In the case of an actual asset, like PMs, there is no worry about whether or not your PMs can be exchanged for something else because they have intrinsic value (value having nothing to do with belief, but rather value that has been given to an asset by Natural Law or the Universe itself). This is not a complicated concept, yet because Olympic level mental gymnastics is required, and the brainwashing so well developed for the True Believers, this concept is very difficult for any Btc proponent to understand, yet the easiest thing in the world for everyone else. The problem is, those who have invested in Btc or other such useless currencies must create belief to justify their often "all in" investment, and thus must miss out on the simplicity of this concept. It is because of this contrived belief that one allows themselves to make up such nonsense as:

Btc is backed by energy

No it is not. Not even in the slightest little bit, or under the most wild contrivance of definitions. You can't trade your Btc for energy in any direct way. There is zero "energy value" there.

What is petrodollar backed by? Oil, a.k.a. ENERGY

Well, I disagree that the "petrodollar" actually existed in the sense this idea is used. It was only a useful concept for countries, not people, and even there, it was total bullshit. Regardless, even assuming that the petrodollar really was backed by oil, the key there is, the petrodollar is backed by Oil, not "energy". Oil has an intrinsic energy property (as the basis of all organic chemistry, it has a lot more value than just "energy"). This energy value, and all of its other chemical properties that make it useful chemical stock for actual physical goods (plastics, pharmaceuticals, tire rubber, etc., etc.) are properties given to it by the Universe. Those properties can't be taken away by changing belief. They are fundamental AKA intrinsic. Btc on the other hand has no properties like that, nor can it be directly exchanged for something like that ("backed by").

Do you see the difference? The petrodollar is backed by actual physical usable assets. Btc takes energy to make. That energy is lost to entropy forever. There is no backing there. You can't get it back to do future work. The mining of Btc is the work. That work is now done and lost. We had energy, which was positive, the mining happens, and the "total energy column" is now a loss. That loss is called "backed by" by Btc proponents. That is what mental gymnastics looks like, in this case a lie that a loss of a thing is a gain of a thing.

It is utter nonsense, and yet smart people are still confused by this simple concept.

That is the power of bias; the need for black to be white because of the potential for personal loss . When you build your house on sand, you need to believe the ocean, sitting 50 feet away, will never rise high enough to take out your foundation. It doesn't matter that that's not how things actually work--eventually there will be a storm--what matters is the investment. The cost of being wrong is so high that people literally stick their head in the sand to protect themselves from their inevitable doom.