Let's get one thing clear, Bitcoin isn't the stock market and people treating it as such is one of the reasons it's been jacked up this past year. People are finally starting to realize that Bitcoin is here to stay and will be a dominating currency and asset in the coming years. These people are buying tons of Bitcoin but also selling because they are treating it like a stock, freaking out and selling like it has a chance to go under which ****s the market up for other unexperienced buyers. Thankfully this makes more BC available to the smart people who understand what's happening and will buy and hold. To be clear this is for Bitcoin and possibly Ethereum only. Everything else is a ****show lottery ticket.
Ok, I'm admitted very naive when it comes to crypto
So ... how is it not like a stock? You buy it, you hold on to it for a while, and you hope to sell it for a profit, correct?
I guess you could say it's more analogous to investing in a foreign currency - you exchange, you hold on to it for a while, and you hope to re-exchange it for a profit because of global exchange rates. Not exactly the same thing as a stock, but pretty much the same thing as a stock... and not nearly as popular as stocks here in the US, for good reasons.
If you want to say it's the same thing as a dominant currency - I don't think you can make that analogy. People do save cash, but more so just in order to keep it liquid. Interest rates / returns on just cash are typically much poorer than other investment vehicles. If you have your $100 bills sitting in your mattress, you are losing money, as the value of a dominant currency typically can't keep pace with the inflation rate of the economy in which they are used. You need an investment vehicle: a stock, a bond, a business, an asset, etc... if you want to make any significant return.
If there's another perspective here, I'd love to hear it, because right now all I see is the bigger fool theory playing out, and I'm waiting to watch everyone try to cash out their tulips. I see nothing but "HODL" and "To the Moon" (not from folks here, just in general from "the crypto bros"), which don't seem exactly like solid economic strategies.
For folks who just have their side computer on mining a bit and getting while the getting is good - nothing against that, and generally not hurting anyone in doing so. For folks dumping their entire life savings into it, or even worse, talking others into investing their life savings into, I feel pity for.
As a side note -- I am more than happy staying out of the entire crypto ****show and letting you more experienced buyers have the market to yourselves.