Bitcoin is the first technological form of money. This means it is going thru the normal technology adoption cycle like a high tech startup does, yet its' a fo

Bitcoin is the first technological form of money. This means it is going thru the normal technology adoption cycle like a high tech startup does, yet its' a form of money. It's a new thing. Every time the user base expands a bit as more people become aware of it, then the price goes up. At the same time, every 4 years the rate of emission is being cut in half... so, more people want bitcoins but there are less new bitcoins being made. That's not a pyramid scheme but it's also not going to produce a perfect %0.2 appreciation per day type schedule. It is an investment. With a lottery ticket your odds of winning are very small and you will likely lose almost all the money. With a pyramid scheme, the early entrants are paid with money from the later entrants as part of a scam-- and it's unsustainable-- but bitcoin is perfectly sustainable, it's simply an asset that happens to be appreciating. What is it when you buy an asset whose demand is going up and you think it's going to appreciate? Investing. At worst you could call it "speculating" but speculation is just a word for "high risk investments" and risk is in the eye of the beholder.