But then now Bitcoin faces daily hacking and theft risks,
Much less so than the Euro or Dollar
lacks access to a banking system with deposit insurance,
There are several Bitcoin vault & storage services with 100% insurance.
and it is not used to denominate consumer credit or loan contracts.
True. Well, rarely you see prices denominated natively in Bitcoin, but it's merely incidental.
[q]So I guess Bitcoin appears to behave more like a speculative investment than a currency. Am I right?[/quote]
Currently, yes. Although it's definitely not all investing. People also use Bitcoin a *lot* already as a means of better, faster, cheaper, easier, andmore efficient payments.