“Wait, [can] you own a number?…Can I own the number 13?”

It’s not a simple number that you own (like 13). More precisely, you own (or, more precisely, you know) a secret string of numbers. The numbers give you ownership of a limited commodity that many individuals desire to obtain. Specifically, they give you the ability to store [save] or convey [pay out] a fraction of the total Bitcoin universe (21 million units after all coins are uncovered).

Some will debate how a secret can be treated as a store of value (i.e. as something “tangible”)—but just as with the password to your bank account, value comes from supply and demand. Neither Bitcoin or US dollars have intrinsic value.

Even those things that do (like gold, oil or other minerals) derive their value in the exact same way: supply and demand. I could mine sand all day long and few people who live near the coast would pay me. In fact, sand is only of value when transported far from shore. Therefore, the value of sand is in the trucks and fuel and not in the sand itself. It’s all about supply and demand.

The Tokyo court has made an error that stems from an ignorance of economics, finance, and sociology. Eventually, they will be embarrassed, and that embarrassment will be proportional to the duration of their uncorrected gaffe—or perhaps the number of citizens harmed by derivative decisions.

~Philip Raymond