[alexasmyths]

"Also, what justifies Bitcoin's value at ~17k ?"

Nothing - it's a meme, a fad - a rampantly speculative one that involves money.

So many press articles touting 'BTC breaks $X' price point - it's clickbait - and also many jornos and bloggers have positions which they are not disclosing yet, though this is changing.

Because there is no way to value BTC, it's funny game. Someone on Bloomberg indicated a valuation technique which related BTC to popularity in Google searches. Which is rather interesting: BTC's value is a function of it's popularity. Which explains a lot.

ICSs are 'hot' because we've seen how much 'money people have made' in BTC and so major bets are being placed on ICOs.

They are a magnificently easy way to grab money from people who kind of think they are 'making an investment' but really their not getting much at all. An IPO with 0% dilution.

[kenpomeroy]

Of course Bitcoin's value is a function of its popularity - it is a network. Networks become more valuable (and more useful) the more popular they are.