[j0hnyl]

How can it be proved that people are buying tokens like Eth/Solana because they expect those tokens to go up in value?

Plenty of people are buying those tokens so that they can participate in their respective ecosystems as developers.

[elliekelly]

And some Howey-in-the-Hills investors may have just wanted to eat their oranges. First and foremost they’ll look to what was said in selling the tokens: “join a crypto community!” vs “start your crypto portfolio”.

[j0hnyl]

You have a point however, I don't think anyone is buying Eth now based on the initial ICO messaging.

[awb]

In that sense, it's more like gold which has investment potential, but also utility outside of its investment potential.

But if you're using gold as a productive asset, then you're modifying it and repurposing it to an extent that its value is no longer tied to its weight.

When you're using a token as a productive asset, its value is still tied to its market value. So in that sense, it's different and probably more closely related to an investment.