Good post.

Good post. I’m eager to read part 2.
Where I’d push back a little is the tulipomania piece.
I agree generally with your argument, but I do think that the price and existence of Bitcoin is influenced as art.
While on a political level Bitcoin has its purpose, it also exists on an artistic or cultural level.
I believe that there are people, call them fans of nerd-chic, who are attracted to Bitcoin as part of the worship of technology, or the worship of digital, or even the worship of peer to peer phenomena.
Bitcoin does not exist purely as a technical concept, but as you quite clearly argue as a political concept, and as I would argue as an aesthetic or artistic concept. I believe that all technology is art, and that the more powerful that art is received, interpreted, and engaged by its audience, the more powerful that technology will be. :)

I also agree with your earlier point about leverage, and how for the most part, people are not buying BTC via leverage because the institutional infrastructure doesn’t exist to enable it. However I do think, to a far lesser extent than the established system, there are people who are taking on some kind of debt so they can speculate on BTC and other currencies.