[Errant]

The "real" money goes to whomever you buy them from. If you do so through an exchange or a service there is a small fee charged, just like any other exchange. You can also purchase them locally.

[Semper911]

Got it. So it’s like a stock, there was an “IPO” of sorts, and now people are just trading on faith that there will be value when they want to sell.

But someone had to get the real money for the first set of bitcoins sold. Unless they just gave them away.

I guess it could work. For a while. Until there is a scare like a security breach or something that causes everyone to want to sell at the same time and the faith is diminished.

I am not trying to be a downer here, but it all seems sketchy to me. Honestly, I don’t see the point.