The price of gold doesn't come from it's practical applications, so that's hardly relevant. If gold were no longer hoarded by speculators as a store of value, its price would plummet massively as the practical application demands simply couldn't maintain its current speculative value.

Bitcoin has practical applications as well, on the Internet as peer to peer cash. But like gold, it's value comes largely from speculators, not its practical applications.

physical, bitchez!

(sorry, spend too much time on zerohedge...)