Bitcoin might have future as digital gold but with more and more digital coins appearing on the scene,
the argument for using Bitcoin as a means of transactions is becoming less justifiable.
We don't even need that process large number of transactions - since Bitcoin users are mainly holders.
Not so long ago I read predictions that Bitcoin's price will surpass the $100k mark by mid 2018.
Now I don't think we will reach that number before next halving - and even then it would be hard to achieve.
Right now they are holders because they want the value to increase. Lets say we get to 100k hypothetically by next year sometime, a lot of those users will want to spend their funds. At that time the network will crash or be too expensive to use, so therefore we need to preemptively create a stronger network. Don't get fooled by how much the network is being used now, it is a facade and only the real story will reveal itself in a year or two's time.