It has value only if you’re trying to get a loan against it - or when you cash it out.
If I have an ounce of gold, and it’s worth $2,000 an ounce. I’ve basically got $2000. But I don’t really have any money until I sell it. Until then, it’s potential value.
Same with bitcoin. Same with stocks. And really, same with any fiat money. Anything you hold as any sort of investment only has value when you liquidate it. And the value at that time might be a lot less than at the current time. Or more, of course.
This is simply untrue. I guess you’ve never run up against the AMT, or calculated your net worth.
The whole idea that the only value one has is whatever cash you have in your bank account is simply not the way anyone on Earth calculates value or wealth.
If government paper is how you measure your financial value or wealth, no one can stop you from thinking that way (nor do I desire to talk you out of it). But this is your own highly subjective methodology that no one in the world uses.
USD and other fiat currencies are objectively the worst way to calculate your wealth considering that cash is highly inflationary, probably into double digit percentage points if our treasury leaders were truthful. So, the value at that time might be a lot less than at the current time is actually guaranteed for cash, whereas just about every popular and reliable asset or commodity enjoys the OPPOSITE status.
If you think that USD in your bank account is a safe way to preserve value, all I can offer is a foreboding Good Luck.