I am not arguing that the speculators are not important or useful to the Bitcoin economy. Yet currently the speculators are probably out weighing the actual users of the currency.
I don't see what the problem of that would be, but what figures do you have to back this up? Any comment on the number of spenders vs hoarders seems to be based entirely on assumption at the minute.
Just to add my two cents to the conversation.... I don't know if there are any exact hard numbers on something like that. There was an interesting article/interview I read the other day on coindesk though. The researcher talks about in their findings the majority of bitcoins aren't moving although it's impossible to know if that's because the are being hoarded, lost, or in cold storage (obviously it's a combination of all 3 but knowing what %'s each make up is probably not possible).
I would also argue though that it's just common sense...... it's dangerous to talk about only people you know and apply it to everyone, but all the bitcoin enthusiasts I know personally aren't spending many bitcoins and if they are it's a lot less than they were a 6 months to a year ago. Also this isn't any sort of scentific data but I think just following the forums on here gives a trending picture of people wanting to hold bitcoin and wanting to buy as the price goes down, but not as many peopel talking about going out and buying things with them.
Again, none of what I just said is hard facts and data and you're right it's in assumption but IMO it's a pretty safe bet/assumption. Of course I've been wrong before in life, but only once or twice
edit: sorry forgot the coindesk link , great article imo.... http://www.coindesk.com/researcher-tracks-bitcoin-movements-anonymity/
To be honest, it makes sense not to spend right now. In the grand scheme ot things there's not much to spend your coins on, and BTC is at a low at the moment and is essentially half what it was worth at its peak. So if you bought in at $1000-ish, it'd be silly to spend now as you'll be losing money, hold for a couple of months and you'll probably be back in profit.
Yes I agree, in a lot of sceniros currently it doesnt make much sence to spend bitcoin. And that's why right now bitcoin is more of a commodity/investment than it is a practicle currency. If you bought high you might be wanting for the price to hopefully come back if youre going to spend, if you bought low you might want to watch your money increase. The drastic swings in value makes it pretty unrealistic for most people to want to use btc as a curency. Using something as a currency you tend to need the value to stay consistent, otherwise people are left with regret one way or another (could've made money or they lost money.
Anyway, volatilty should decrease as the market gets larger. With the market being so small it doesn't take much for a big price swing to occur.
And you're right, with not many places accepting bitcoin still (although it's growing at a nice rate) it makes more sense to hold onto your bitcoins and wait for more adoption.