market cap is useful in that it shows the total value of the coin. Comparing the price of 1BTC to 1ETH doesn't make sense, but comparing their market cap does
The alternatives to fiat money are commodity money, e.g. gold, or representative money, e.g. pieces of paper exchangeable for gold at a fixed rate. Cryptocurrencies are more similar to fiat money in terms of their value being a function of social agreement versus utility.
"Useful" might be a better term, but it makes some sense to equate those two.
Fiat currencies are created by fiat (legal declaration). No government created either, so no, they are not fiat currencies.
But I meant in the sense that they don't have intrinsic value like gold.
All value is assigned. So, what then, besides traditional consensus, makes gold 'intrinsically valuable' without also making cryptocurrencies intrinsically valuable?
