Well I think many people, including myself, view the bitcoin as closer to a stock (and money making asset) than an actual currency. People just want to own some BTC because of its rapidly appreciating value compared to other currencies. As far as I know, most places do not even accept bitcoins as a form of of payment. However, as more and more vendors start accepting the BTC , it may not be long until people start considering it a legitimate currency.
Your assessment is top notch. However, I will quickly add that I see Bitcoin as a hybrid between commodity/asset and fiat. And that's what keeps the price soaring
Prices of bitcoin is continuously soaring because less number of people are selling compared to the people who are buying. People may buy bitcoins either to use for his online transactions or move into cold storage for the purposes of making his life into next levels. But I believe that does not matter and what we need to note, is people buy bitcoins but not selling. It means they started using bitcoins for their own purposes.
Hence using bitcoins as currency or investment is no more significant as long as not converting back to fiats.