A store of value that can be anonymously transferred and exchanged without significant costs has some inherit value in society. The only problem with bitcoin, is that if we consider bitcoin to be an asset, than it's price is entirely determined by speculation and nothing else. At least with gold, there are industrial/commercial uses for it that put a lower bound on the price. Not so much with bitcoin. Personally, I don't need an anonymous store of value, so if I am going to be speculating, I would rather do so with stocks of companies, as those are actually backed by the value of the company itself. I may throw some money into bitcoin just for fun, but I wouldn't do it to use it as a currency. My gut is telling me that most people jumping in are not interested in using it as a currency either.
Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean bitcoin won't become more like a currency in the future. It is possible that it will stabilize. Considering that the world has never really seen anything like this before (well there were a few attempts that failed in the past), it is impossible to predict what is going to happen.
Its price is based on the work required to make the coins and the properties of a minted coin (can't be forged, etc). The coin has virtual properties, but they're still useful properties.