>Apples to oranges comparison: gold actually has a use, and its value is kept in check by that
Is it? According to one source[1], the overwhelming majority of the gold use is for speculation (investment/central banks) or quasi-speculation (jewelry).
If gold was dirt and had no fallback value, would it . Interestingly the marketing that gold is so valuable, more so diamonds, to artificially inflate its price mimics Bitcoin well. Bitcoin's also called a Ponzi-like scheme because in the end, if everyone in society adopts Bitcoin, it actually has no additional value to the last one stuck holding the bag - you've just transferred all wealth through a system that unnecessarily, unreasonably, transfers wealth weighted towards earlier adopters from later adopters.