Or maybe I'm completely wrong in this assessment.
But... what use case value can it have if not as a means of payment of last resort?
Here is my Bitcoin Paradox:
The only real use value it has is its exchange value, not the other way around.
Since it's neither equity, nor credit, nor a commodity, nor another means of production. It doesn't shine, you cannot wear it, you cannot fire it, you cannot eat it.
It's the perfect money as long as it becomes/remains money. Otherwise it's useless.
Yeah, it's a bit of a chicken and egg problem: without its use in trade, it has no real value as an asset. without its value as an asset, it has no use in trade.
Fortunately (it seems to me), speculation on eventual widespread use in trade has temporarily bootstrapped its value as an asset. Now, we just need widespread recognition of its value as an asset in order to ignite widespread desire to trade for it (or at least for some derivative of it).
What I think we need now is faster widespread uncensorable L2 and Sidechain adoption, merchants onboarding vs slower nation states and bank hoardings.
Plus a better decentralization of mining and better incentives to core and L2 developers.
If left uncheck mant L1 bitcoin subsystems tends towards centralization.
