With every bubble pop, exchange insolvency, token scam, crypto startup bankruptcy, we are getting closer and closer to the "real" value of bitcoin. Still ways to go I predict. However, I also do think that value is comfortably > 0.
In my perspective the only real use of bitcoin is transferring money where you can't use traditional payment providers.
It's the same thing, you're just adding a lot of steps with a ton of overhead.
This doesn't strictly have to be some instantaneous automated buy and sell. You could accept some % of loss but you don't want to hold for more than a day.
If either party wants to hedge their exposure to bitcoin volatility, it gets more complicated.
If you are involved in buying legal items online where the merchant has to deal with a lot of claw-back from the bank or card companies, they will generally give you a better deal with crypto.
There is a lot of value in ransomware, the ability to purchase drugs, and money laundering.
https://stockx.com/supreme-clay-brick-red
Both art and grifts have changing value > 0.
Bitcoin doesn't have a single one of those.
People who constantly make this argument don't actually understand how economics and monetary value actually work. They've just heard someone say it and, like most bro-science, it sounds about right so it should be right!
Right from the jump, they'd know that among the many other worthless parts of BTC, if we actually had a deflationary currency be the standard it would be a horrible, horrible reality.
Inflation is a tool so not being able to use it, yes, would make things more difficult. It's a double-edged sword though as inflation can get out of hand. BTC's scarcity ensures no one can print it out of existence.
I am also convinced that The Economy is a huge dumb emotional beast that no one fully understands. If that weren't the case, we wouldn't boom/bust constantly because we could predict accurately.
People who make your argument usually don't understand that monetary theory hasn't caught up to accommodating cryptocurrency because most of the ideas are decades old.
USD is not based on GDP. Its value can only loosely be attributed to it.
Less than a year ago NFTs had about as many daily transactions. Since then volume is down 97%+ and prices have collapsed, well on their way to the correct value of $0.
IMO bitcoin will go the same way. The market is just more entrenched in bitcoin mania so it's happening more slowly.