Throughout history, every time a currency is detached from gold (which preserves its scarcity).....it eventually fails.
Question is if the scarcity of Bitcoin will be enough. Is scarcity what gives gold its value? Is scarcity THE value?
Full disclosure, I own some BTC.
Good question. IMO it's likely a combination of three factors. The first two are scarcity AND the belief that other people will always want it. The third needed criteria is that the thing of value must be timeless, in other words it can't spoil like tulips, it must be capable of lasting forever.
Bitcoin has two of the three for sure. The third being lasting demand has yet to be seen.