A thought experiment:

Imagine there was a base metal as scarce as gold but with the following properties:

-boring gray color

-not a good conductor of electricity

-not particularly strong, but not ductile or easily malleable either

-not useful for any practical or ornamental purpose

..and one special magical property:

-can be transported over a communications channel

If it somehow acquired any value at all for whatever reason, then anyone wanting to transfer wealth over a long distance could buy some, transmit it, and have the recipient sell it.

-Satoshi Nakamoto, August 2010