>"but the same applies to any investment - why invest at all"
But "money" isn't an investment. It's a medium of exchange.
If you're buying BTCs to hold them as an appreciating asset, that's one thing. If the intention is for them to be used as a currency, then deflation inhibits the exchange.
>But "money" isn't an investment. It's a medium of exchange.
I disagree, many traders deal solely with currencies.
> deflation inhibits the exchange.
Valid if you deal with fiat currencies - but with a finite volume that point doesn't hold its own too well. if there is any transaction going on (currently mostly underground) then the market levels itself on those. In other words, you can't hold it forever, particularly when it transitions toward mainstream use.
The beauty of BTCs is that it has no worth but it's own encryption. And that worth appears poised to grow as people worry more and more about secure digital transactions that no one entity can regulate. It is a tool to an ideology, that no government can secretly abuse, which is why it isn't seeing much love from that crowd.
But "money" isn't an investment. It's a medium of exchange.
If you're buying BTCs to hold them as an appreciating asset, that's one thing. If the intention is for them to be used as a currency, then deflation inhibits the exchange.