So, do you imply that people buying bitcoins then try to sell them to their friends and family? People keep buying, then selling, then buying again, then selling again bitcoins. This hardly qualifies as a pyramid scheme, this is speculation.
Pyramid scheme is implied because people try to get others to adopt bitcoin, may not friends and family but it is promoted to others as a way to get rich. Have you seen the various cryptocurrency sub-reddits? They often read like mass delusions or pump-and-dump schemes.
The only real value of Bitcoin that I have seen is the highly illegal darknet marketplaces, but outside of that I haven't seen much.
I see your point, but then most financial investments could be considered pyramid schemes as people always are vocals about how their investment is great, partly for the feeling of being convinced to be a good investor, partly because value raises if other people are buying. The definition of "pyramid scheme" has to be stricter than that if it has to have any meaning :)
Regarding intrinsic value, there's one thing I hope from bitcoin (or any other crypto that could achieve that) : replacing my bank account. Banking services have got so bad with years, it's really time to disrupt them. Granted, we're far from there yet, and it may never happen. That's why it's a risky investment, with possible high reward (or high loses) and why ... it can't be used as a bank account (because of the volatility). Still going in the right direction, IMO.
I think that Bitcoin is an investment and not a currency. I think it is misnamed.
Currencies are actually designed to slightly depreciate over time in order to get people to spend them on buying things or buying investments. That is done completely on purpose. Not too fast depreciation but not too slow either.
Bitcoin isn't depreciating, rather appreciating because of its design -- a limited supply.
Yeah, indeed, I often made this remark myself. This doesn't mean it won't change (core developers could decide to change the rules about limited supply), but this is unlikely. What is more likely is that something like the USDTether crypto, or an other crypto tethered to a fiat, will take the lead.
What I often say, too, is that it's probably the only way it could have work. When bitcoin was very young and it was considered a currency, people didn't care. It's only when exchanges appeared and bitcoin started to get very volatile that it gained traction. Maybe having speculators getting rich and broke with bitcoin was the only way to bring cryptocurrencies to mainstream focus : during those frenetic times, everybody has heard about cryptos, and there's not a single day now without a news about a big actor (either administrations or corporate) trying something around cryptos or blockchains. Maybe we needed all of that to get the yet to be born crypto that can be used by everyone. Should bitcoin have stayed that weird internet currency nobody used, it would have died long time ago.
