[mdemare]

An investment is productive - buying a share in a company allows that company to increase production, which should increase their profit.

Lending money to a company allows that company to invest, and increase their profits.

Buying BTC is nothing like that. It's speculation - hoping that the price will go up, nothing more.

[LargeWu]

FWIW, most "investments" that regular people make in the stock market are also, in fact, speculation. Once the stock has been issued originally, the issuing company receives no proceeds from subsequent sales of that stock. There might be secondary or tertiary effects that eventually lead to real investment, but for the most part, the majority of American's retirement savings are in speculative holdings.

[prodigal_erik]

"If you really think of it, when a stock doesn't pay dividends, there really isn't a whole lot of difference between a share of stock and a baseball card." - http://blogmaverick.com/2008/09/08/talking-stocks-and-money/