It's not exactly snake oil because you used to be able to buy thinks with it. It's just become snake oil. Maybe that's pedantic, but I don't think it would have become large if it hadn't initially been on a path towards being useful as a currency.

You can still buy things with it. The only thing that has really changed is way more people are speculating on it than before, and that's revealing some serious scalability problems with the blockchain and security/trust problems with the exchanges.

Everything I buy except for maybe my mortgage, I decide to buy it and expect that within moments the payment will go through. I expect it to be cash-like in ease and quickness. For a while bitcoin looked to be headed that way, but no longer.

Snake oil has actual medical benefits. It wouldn't have become a widely known fake cure-all ripoff if it hadn't initially been useful as a medicine.

Oh cool. TIL, thanks. Seems like a kinda perfect analogy then.