It's true because it's true
It is essentially the simplest example of
tautology ("a logical statement in which the conclusion is equivalent to the premise"). Truism, on the contrary, is something which is basically a true statement but which has been repeated so often that it became boring
As for the first statement, I agree. "Creates" is the wrong verb; I should be saying it "enables." In this change, it is more accurate and the central premise of my point remains. The excess economic output enabled by a robust international banking system allows for bitcoin as a speculative asset to retain a lot of speculative value. And in a devastating international crisis or global economic depression, all speculative assets will lose value as people turn to guarding wealth rather trying to expand it by taking on risk.
Okay, so what creates value then?
Obviously, now you say it yourself, it is economic output which is the real wealth (excessive or not is another question). Could it be "enabled" by a payment system provided by crypto (though not necessarily by Bitcoin)? Hypothetically, yes, it could (if we discard technical issues). Would it change anything in the speculative nature of Bitcoin (or some other coin)? I guess, no, since just like people speculate with dollars or some other fiat today, they would speculate with bitcoins with no fiat around tomorrow (though the prices would likely be less volatile in that case). So why do you say that it is the fiat payment system which enables this speculation when, in fact, it is just an optional or facultative element of the whole system which can be replaced with a payment system provided by crypto itself (where excessive output is the central element required for speculation)?
Stability allows value to be stored. If the base currency is not stable, there will be no reliable store of value and no savings. Fiat like the USD currently provides that and it is the system everything is denominated in. It's where the stability is. Speculation is the search for alpha above the zero point (which fiat represents since everything is denominated in USD). Without a stable system first, there would be no ability to speculate, because the underlying assets themselves are too unstable to make speculating above that worthwhile. It would be piling risk on top of risk. You don't take on more risk if your base currency already provides all the risk you can stomach. It's only through stability that the appetite for risk grows. Places where there is high inflation, USD is in high demand because it's a stable store of value. Venezuela right now has the highest inflation in the world, and people there are turning to mining bitcoin and ether to supplement income. Interestingly, no one is interested in using bitcoin to speculate or store value because they're too busy trying to survive in an economic crisis. It's simply an income vehicle. Mine, liquidate, survive.
