Yes, Bitcoin has lost a lot of value since Christmas, but it is still up around 600% from last year. I am taking a long term view here. It is unfair to criticize Bitcoin’s decline because in terms of an asset class it is still miniscule. I consider it in the early price discovery days. Amazon stock declined from $107 to $7 around 2000-2001 so you could make the same argument that buying Amazon was a bad investment then, but you would look pretty dumb today. For reference, just last year, Bitcoin’s market cap was around $15 billion. That would be the equivalent of buying Amazon at around $32 based on the current price.
The Bitcoin volatility will stabilize over time, and I think it will become a legitimate asset class. I would like to ask you in response to
> There might have been people orchestrating surges and crashes, but that's pretty much the best case scenario for assets which people have no reason to value at all.
Why would you say that fiat currencies have value (other than because the government says so)?