It seems to me that after more than 10 years Bitcoin can be most accurately described as "an investment vehicle hopefully not correlated with the stock market".

I guess that's fine and nothing out of the ordinary since people constantly invent new financial instruments.

But since more and more trades happen on regulated exchanges and (as was expected) regular financial regulations such as KYC and AML apply it seems not that revolutionary to be honest.

No reasonable person would (or does) use Bitcoin as an actual currency if they expect the value to increase in the future so it can't become a means of exchange for real world goods.

Most of us have established and secure alternatives for that and inflation doesn't really matter for most of my income (which is spent within 30 days). Even people in countries with unstable government mostly seem to prefer other methods.

Maybe I'm missing something but given all that the underlying technology of Bitcoin and friends look like an implementation Detail that doesn't really matter.

> No reasonable person would (or does) use Bitcoin as an actual currency if they expect the value to increase in the future so it can't become a means of exchange for real world goods.

I take issue with this statement because it reflects a fundamental misunderstanding that people have about Bitcoin.

The point is not to “HODL” the Bitcoins waiting for the USD or EUR value of the BTC to increase.

The point is among other things:

1. to be able to freely transact with anyone, and

2. to not have a central authority adjusting the purchasing power of your savings

As of yet we are still relegated to caring about the USD and EUR prices of Bitcoin, because in order to use our savings we have to exchange to fiat. But the ultimate goal is indeed to be able to use BTC directly for everything from buying a house to paying for groceries.

For example, I receive 100% of my paycheck in bitcoin.

From week to week I don’t have any desire that it increases in value of USD or EUR.

My main problem is when it decreases in value, so that my purchasing power is worse from having gotten my paycheck in Bitcoin.

But even then, over time it probably averages out.

And if not, well at least I am still receiving my paycheck in the currency I believe in, and maybe some day more people will believe in it too. And then finally some day I can buy my groceries with BTC directly.

> The point is not to “HODL” the Bitcoins waiting for the USD or EUR value of the BTC to increase.

This is some pretty typical “no true Scotsman” stuff if we’re being honest. If you go to a crypto sub or forum any given day, they will all say “no no no bitcion isn't for daily use, you want ______ coin.” one day. The next day it’s “HODL, DCA in on a few cryptos, and watch it rise.” Two days later when it crashes it’s “I never thought it was good for currency, I just like the tech.”

People tend to forget Bitcoin is a monetary experiment where nobody controls the printer and the total supply over time converges to a certain value. There's no good reason not to try a different model of supply e.g. a supply function that emulates a clock. An asset like this could be named TIME and a coin could represent a second that passed in real life. Valuing time as money would make for an interesting experiment.

There's little illegitimate about a cryptocurrency whose emission averages 1 coin per second forever (not letting the current generation hoard nearly all the supply, or letting the founders get any) and otherwise simplifies many aspects of bitcoin.