Is there not a big contradiction at the heart of bitcoin. People seem to have a religous zeal for it like others do for gold and proclaim that it will replace fiat currencies. However they want to invest in it because they believe its value will rise in relation to all fiat currencies. With regular currencies you can gauge its value with regard to other currencies using interest rates and purchasing power parity. There is a stabilising effect therefore if one countries goods are getting too expensive in relation to other countries currencies, over time the expensive countrys currency will fall back in value to restore purchasing power parity. Over time all currencies should gradually inflate and lose value, therefore people should not wish to hold large amount of currency as cash but in productive assets. However with bitcoin with its massive increase in value in relation to everything else how can it be used as a medium of exchange, nobody wants to buy anything with it, they just want to buy bitcoin and hold onto it until it starts falling again, then a mad scramble to spend it.