> money supply isn't large enough, so Bitcoin, like gold, becomes a store of value and is useless as a currency.
This isn't true though, the supply of the money has no relation to whether or not something becomes a store of value. The key attribute is that it's finite (deflationary).
However, I need to say that a finite currency isn't deflationary forever, it can only be deflationary until there is no more demand for the currency, which has to happen at some point, then the currency becomes stable and mature.
The money supply is important as well, bitcoin is infinitely divisible (easy network upgrades possibly required) so for all practical reasons money supply (liquidity) will never be a problem for bitcoin, but it has been a problem for every single currency which came before. Gold especially because it's expensive to deal with changing and re-issuing the money supply each time you want to add liquidity.
Today, it's much easier with digital banking but liquidity is still not 100% all the time so when liquidity needs to be added or removed, it's done in unnatural ways, which leads to instability in markets.
It is both a currency and a means of investment, all currencies are, even inflationary fiat currencies, the people who get in first when interest rates are high can earn a lot of interest before the currency is eventually devalued by the controllers.
In theory, when bitcoin reaches a saturation point of adoption, the value of bitcoin won't increase anymore (it can't if there is no more demand). At this stage deflation would technically have stopped and the currency is matured.
This should lead to a much more stable economy than we have now, where people aren't encouraged through the use of cheap credit to make emotional purchases for things they don't need, sure the economy might not "grow" at the same rate but the growth would be a more precise representation of what people truly needed (instead of just being a big party). Maybe people would even lead more stable responsible lives.
This isn't true though, the supply of the money has no relation to whether or not something becomes a store of value. The key attribute is that it's finite (deflationary).
However, I need to say that a finite currency isn't deflationary forever, it can only be deflationary until there is no more demand for the currency, which has to happen at some point, then the currency becomes stable and mature.
The money supply is important as well, bitcoin is infinitely divisible (easy network upgrades possibly required) so for all practical reasons money supply (liquidity) will never be a problem for bitcoin, but it has been a problem for every single currency which came before. Gold especially because it's expensive to deal with changing and re-issuing the money supply each time you want to add liquidity.
Today, it's much easier with digital banking but liquidity is still not 100% all the time so when liquidity needs to be added or removed, it's done in unnatural ways, which leads to instability in markets.