General Discussion

It's true that fiat currency is "made up" too. BUT, it's a medium of exchange. And in the case of the USD, heavily guaranteed by the USG and it's widespread use gives a persistance something like BTC doesn't have, at least yet. If your BTC wallet goes poof tomorrow, there is basically nothing you can do about it.

The fact that BTC isn't an actual currency is noted by the fact that it is ALWAYS referenced to it's value in USD. Even in places where you can buy stuff in BTC directly, the BTC price is determined by the equivalent price in actual currency, usually USD.

A limited asset like BTC is unlikely to become a real currency because it appeciates. Being a limited (indeed, contracting) resource means that people would expect it to appreciate in value relative to local currencies, good, and services. So there is basically no incentive to spend or invest it. That's why the gold standard was so troublesome.... in hard times, people tended to horde money instead of spending it, stimulating economic growth.

But hey, some people have gotten very wealthy off it, so WTF do I know. They can apparently read human psychology better than I can. I think the desire to be a "Bitcoin Millionaire" havs kept this going for a while, and may well keep it going a while longer.