Seems like terminology is what causes a bunch of the confusion.

Bitcoin is used synonymously with ICOs. Bitcoin vs. Ethereum and the ICOs that spawn from it are not the same.

Bitcoin is continually referred to as a currency...and it might be or become one but what it seems to be now is just another financial asset. That is, a thing that acts as a storehouse of value like any other tangible or intangible asset. Whether Bitcoin is a good or bad storehouse of value remains to be seen. But mixing terminology confuses the issue.