It has utility for ransomware. Even a niche utility can bootstrap an ecosystem. Add layers and layers of speculation above that kernel and it is a feedback loop.
As long as speculators refuse to sell, people need to spend more and more for ransoms (or equivalently ransomware writers have to demand less denominated by bitcoin), driving up the price as long as those destroyed through ransomware outstrips those created by mining.
As long as speculators refuse to sell, people need to spend more and more for ransoms (or equivalently ransomware writers have to demand less denominated by bitcoin), driving up the price as long as those destroyed through ransomware outstrips those created by mining.