What real companies? Tesla did at the spurring of Musk, and then quietly dumped all of it. A few other "investment" companies occasionally make some statement that amounts to a pump and dump.

>it no better or worse than ANY OTHER SPECULATIVE THING

Bunching everything together as "speculative" doesn't somehow make them equal. Buying land is not the same as buying an NFT. Buying shares in a bank is not the same as buying Bitcoin.

Bitcoin's entire history has been crime and fraud. It temporarily duped the mainstream, but having conned main street it has returned to its crime roots.