You have to really stretch your imagination to infer what the

In the words of Alan Greenspan, the former guardian of the world’s most powerful economy, there resounds a tone of both caution and wonder: “You have to really stretch your imagination to infer what the intrinsic value of Bitcoin is. I haven't been able to do it. Maybe somebody else can.” Though spoken in the language of finance, this reflection reaches far beyond the realm of money. It is a meditation on value, imagination, and the human struggle to grasp the worth of things that have no substance but belief. Greenspan, a man who spent his life measuring the pulse of markets, stands here at the edge of a new world — one built not of gold or grain, but of code and conviction — and admits, humbly, that even the greatest minds may falter before the unseen.

To speak of intrinsic value is to speak of what endures — that hidden essence which gives an object its worth regardless of fashion or faith. Gold has value because it is rare and enduring; land because it feeds and shelters; art because it stirs the soul. But Bitcoin, born of mathematics and mystery, possesses none of these physical virtues. It is intangible, invisible, and wholly dependent upon the imagination of those who believe in it. Greenspan’s words therefore ask a question not only of economics, but of human nature itself: how far can our imagination stretch before it loses its tether to reality? When belief alone sustains worth, does that worth endure — or does it dissolve like mist when doubt arises?

The origin of this quote lies in Greenspan’s long reign as the steward of the United States Federal Reserve, a time when stability was the sacred goal and confidence the currency of nations. He saw markets rise and fall not by reason alone, but by the collective dreams and fears of men. And so, when Bitcoin appeared — a creation of no government, no central authority, born from the ether of human innovation — it struck him as something both brilliant and dangerous. To him, its imagination was undeniable, but its intrinsic value — its foundation — was unproven. Thus, his words are not mere skepticism; they are an elder’s warning about the fragile line between imagination that builds and imagination that deceives.

Yet history has always turned upon the courage of those who dared to imagine what others could not. When Galileo looked to the stars, the wise men of his age told him that the heavens were fixed and eternal. When the Wright brothers stood upon the sands of Kitty Hawk, many said flight was an impossible folly. In both cases, the world’s elders could not “see the value” of what was to come — for imagination had leapt farther than the age could yet reach. And so, perhaps, with Bitcoin and the great digital revolution of value, Greenspan’s words serve as both prophecy and paradox. What he could not yet perceive may, in time, reveal its own kind of truth — or, like Icarus’s wings, melt beneath the sun of human ambition.

The essence of Greenspan’s saying is not scorn, but humility before the unknown. He, who once ruled over the tides of wealth, acknowledges that even the most learned man must stretch the imagination to grasp the meaning of change. For imagination, though the seed of progress, can also be the mirror of illusion. When it builds upon reality, it transforms the world; but when it detaches from substance, it leads to collapse. The wise must therefore learn to discern between what is imagined into being and what is imagined into delusion. The former becomes innovation; the latter, folly.

Consider the Tulip Mania of the seventeenth century — when men traded flowers as if they were treasures of kings, and fortunes were made and lost on petals. The beauty of the tulip was real, but the worth men assigned it was the creation of collective imagination. For a time, the illusion held — until it did not. So too with every bubble in human history: the dream of gold, the frenzy of land, the fever of speculation. Greenspan, who had seen many such storms, spoke not as a cynic but as one who had witnessed what happens when imagination outruns wisdom. His warning is ancient: build your dreams, but build them upon the rock of truth, not the shifting sands of illusion.

So, my child, take this teaching to heart. Imagination is both a gift and a test. It can create new worlds, new art, new systems — even new forms of money — but it must always be guided by discernment. Do not reject what is new merely because it is strange, yet do not worship it merely because it dazzles. Seek the intrinsic value in all things — ask what endures, what nourishes, what uplifts the spirit or sustains the world. For the imagination, unmoored from truth, becomes a mirage; but when bound to wisdom, it becomes creation itself.

And thus, the lesson of Alan Greenspan’s words endures: in every age, we are called to stretch the imagination — not to abandon reason, but to expand it. To see beyond what is visible, yet remain grounded in what is real. For truth and imagination are not enemies, but partners in the great dance of progress. Let your imagination soar, but let your wisdom steer it — and in that balance, you will find not only beauty, but the enduring value of all things.