I would be inclined to agree; that value is _not_ entirely caused by scarcity. (Though I will point out that if a resource is scarce, people might put more value on it and try to acquire more now because they're afraid they might not be able to get it later.)
However, for a currency, scarcity is critical! Let's say it was easy (and cheap) for people to print their own dollars. You then want to buy an apple. How much is an apple these days, about $1? That doesn't make sense, the apple store can easily print $1 worth of money and keep the apple. What about for $100? Same thing: it's still one bill. What about $1000000? Maybe. Depends how much harder it is to acquire that amount of paper and ink than the apple. At this point, congratulations, your currency is basically paper and ink. Buying anything remotely expensive (like groceries) involves hauling around tons of paper and ink.
However, for a currency, scarcity is critical! Let's say it was easy (and cheap) for people to print their own dollars. You then want to buy an apple. How much is an apple these days, about $1? That doesn't make sense, the apple store can easily print $1 worth of money and keep the apple. What about for $100? Same thing: it's still one bill. What about $1000000? Maybe. Depends how much harder it is to acquire that amount of paper and ink than the apple. At this point, congratulations, your currency is basically paper and ink. Buying anything remotely expensive (like groceries) involves hauling around tons of paper and ink.
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