Why would you when bitcoin is going to the moon next week/month/year?
That kind of reasoning isn't sound. You are basically saying there is no sense for merchants to accept bitcoin, because there will a negligible amount of trade anyway.
No, no, i'm saying there's no sense for holders of bitcoin to use them as they will appreciate dramatically in value. At least, this is a wide spread position of many holders of bitcoin. I'm not saying its right or wrong, just saying it
is.
But if people dont spend the coins there is no reason to accept then anyway. Might as well remove the currency aspect then and just have a couple of exchanges selling "invisible farts" that are sure to be worth more in the future.
The positive is the perception that bitcoin is going mainstream, the negative is they (Overstock etc) aren't building up an economy as they don't hold themselves and facilitate a selling pressure.
Yes, thats the impression i have as well. Its just perception, not a real economy (yet). But if its just the perception thats driving the price instead of an actual economy, then the price is obviously bubbling up.
So the price is based on the assumption that one day BTC will be a mayor currency, but actually moving in that direction would drive the price down in the near to mid term.
Or in other words, the price can only go up if people
believe that BTC will be a real currency, but
actually isnt used for anything other than speculation.