Sure, yes. It would be valuable in the way that a barrel of oil is valuable. It has a number of practical uses in electronics, medicine, etc. Valuable as a currency or means of transferring wealth? Not as much. It's cumbersome for that role.
Bitcoin's value is not "coins". It is valuable for what it does (transfer wealth). It's a ledger, not really "coins".
Did you read the original article? It's actually worth the read if you didn't yet.