Second, if everyone HODL and nobody spends BTC, isn't this becoming just a pyramid scheme?
I can see why you've described it like that, but since we're dealing with a currency that's quite volatile and not something that would provide various fixed amounts for investing certain amounts, then you shouldn't be considering it as a pyramid scheme!When was the last time you sent BTC to someone as electronic cash to pay for something (an item, a service, etc.)?
I do that regularly and I'm sure I'm not the only one 
The one who mocked him shamefully was Roger Ver, and what happened is that people massively sided with Andreas and gave him donations for about 100 Bitcoins. That was in 2017 when the price was over $17K.
Small correction: Some of the donations came when BTCitcoin was at "$12-$17k".