Investments generally have some reasonable “safety“ of principal, which typically means they’re based on something with an intrinsic value. A stock gives you

Investments generally have some reasonable “safety“ of principal, which typically means they’re based on something with an intrinsic value. A stock gives you a claim to future profits, a loan/bond: legal claim on underlying collateral, and currencies back in the day: gold. Investments are a bet that intrinsic value will increase. Speculations are a bet about beliefs and psychology of future buyers. Right now, bitcoin is purely speculative. If it becomes sufficiently pervasive, it will enter the territory of most fiat currencies that have left the gold standard. With sufficient volume, liquidity, and traders, arbitrageurs will make it tightly track some asset/assets with intrinsic value.