Are you still wondering why SteamDollars have real USD value?

If your brand new to SteamDollars and cryptocurrency in general you might be wondering around the site trying your best to work out why people would pay real money for a virtual coin that's nothing more than numbers on a screen.
The problem i've come across when someone who knows a lot about cryptocurrencies tries to explain it to someone who has never come across it before is they often skip the why, and head straight into the how.
(Quick note for the clever folk. Going on about some guy and his fancy maths stuff that mines a virtual coin that's traded and exchanged with virtual wallets. Before we understand the why will lead to glazed eyes faster than an amphetamine fuelled Speedy Gonzalez can say "Ándale! Ándale! Arriba! Arriba!" you have to break us in gently)

What gives "real" money Value

Before we can look at cryptocurrency we need to have a look at the real stuff and why it has value. So take a note out of your wallet and have a good long look at it.

what gives the piece of paper in your hand value?
Is it the material it's made of?
would you hand over $10 or $20 for a random piece of paper the exact same size and weight?
No, well it's not that then.
Could it be the pictures or the words printed on it?
well they are only to differentiate it from other pieces of paper and to let you know how much value that piece of paper has.
How about watermarks and metal strips? well we all know that's so we can tell that this particular piece of paper wasn't printed by some dodgy bloke in his shed, who happens to have a printer and nefarious deeds in mind.

That piece of paper in your hand has value simply because you and everyone else on the planet thinks it has value. so eveyone will readily exchange goods, services and time in exchange for it. Simply put it's valuable because someone wants it.

So why will people spend real money on the virtual stuff? well the vast majority of real money is virtual to. Only a tiny percentage of money can actually be held in your hand. When you go to a bank for a loan or mortgage the bank don't send a cashier into a vault to borrow the cash from some OAP's savings to fund that lone. Someone simply types a few numbers into a computer creating the money simply because
A) you want it
B) you are willing to pay more than you borrow back
C) you meet their conditions to get it

when you use a credit or debit card no one runs to a vault and moves actual cash about, a figure is deducted from your account and added to someone elses through a computer network. So most "real" money is just numbers on a screen. just like Steamdollars and bitcoin.

It's the same with SteamDollars

And I mean exactly the same! SteamDollars have value because people want them and there are a lot of reasons to want them..
It's harder to trace and tax
It offers potentially bigger rewards than a savings account.
they can act as an equity investment
some people just don't trust the banking system anymore.

There are probably as many reasons to use cryptocurrencies as there are people using them and so long as those reasons exist and you'll be able to convert your SteamDollars into cash.

Note: I have over simplified quite a bit, this is just enough to give you a very basic understanding. There is so much more to cryptocurrencies value than this, but with this and a basic understanding of how it works combined you're set to learn and earn as you go along.