As someone who mined a bunch of Bitcoin back in the early days, I can state that this is a completely ahistorical viewpoint. Bitcoin was _absolutely_ touted as

As someone who mined a bunch of Bitcoin back in the early days, I can state that this is a completely ahistorical viewpoint. Bitcoin was _absolutely_ touted as "digital cash" early on. The earliest transactions of Bitcoins were each news items in the community and the each new vendor that accepted it as payment was put forth as proof of Bitcoin's traction. Also comparing it to Apple stock is misleading. Stock represents an ownership stake in the assets of a real-world entity. Bitcoin only has value to the extent that it is collectively agreed to have value; a trait shared with currencies (and commodities with little/no utility such as gold, cowrie shells, etc.)