It seems like only a small fraction of bitcoins as well as other cryptocurrencies gets earned while the vast majority of the coins are bought. But when people buy coins, they obviously aim exclusively at selling them later at a higher price, which is what speculation basically consists in because it makes no economic sense to buy a cryptocurrency to spend it on goods when people can easily spend fiat instead. However, if the price goes down, people aren't going to spend their coins either. And whenever someone complains about prices going down, the only reply they receive is just to hold to their precious bitcoins, no matter what the price could or would be. I have yet to meet anyone telling these bag holders to spend their stashes on something useful.
Apparently, the HODL mentality kills the currency aspect of Bitcoin.
I think the HODL mentality doesn't kill the currency aspect of bitcoin,But partly I agree with you because we need processes like this,People must start using bitcoin everyday for their purposes,it will be the best way for price rising and I also want to say that this process is not connected to this mentality,It sounds a bit antagonistic but its my opinion.Today Its obviuos and already tendence as for goverments as small business investors to use bitcoin as for their payment system and therefore bitcoin has a devloping nature,Today It may not be as comfortable for people to use it for their everyday purposes but I hope it will be in the near future.