I would argue that gold also derives most of its value from speculation, not its physical properties. There are metals with even more favorable properties that

I would argue that gold also derives most of its value from speculation, not its physical properties. There are metals with even more favorable properties that are even scarcer, yet they are valued less. Platinum for instance was at one point considered the level "above gold", but it has since been overtaken. Gold simply is the better brand. It's the same for Bitcoin versus all other digital currencies. > But it's not really useful for now, people buy it only for speculation. Speculation itself is useful. Bypassing the financial system is useful. A price of $18,000 per unit of Bitcoin might sound ridiculous, but it needs to be considered that the market cap of Bitcoin, representing most of the world's cryptocurrency market, is only $200 billion. That is comparable to the assets of a medium-sized US bank.