Does speculation hurt bitcoin? Related Question: Does hoarding really hurt Bitcoin


Does speculation hurt bitcoin? I often hear people complain that speculation is destroying Bitcoin, or that Bitcoin will fail because of speculation. Is there any merit to this criticism of Bitcoin? And in particular, is the idea that speculation is hurting Bitcoin any different then the idea that hoarding is hurting Bitcoin?
It's worth noting that bitcoins would have no value if it weren't for speculation.  When Satoshi first released the client, those who put their electricity and computing resources towards mining bitcoins were speculating that the value would rise from zero, and that the coins would be accepted as payment by someone else.  Those who first accepted bitcoin payments, likewise, were speculating that the value would remain above zero, and continue to be accepted by others, and so on.

It's also worth noting that Bitcoin would likely not have received the amount of attention that it has if not for people speculating that the value would rise tremendously and buying coins in large quantities.  This attention has brought in more users, developers, and businesses, thus increasing the health of Bitcoin.

If speculation does hurt Bitcoin in some ways, it's at the very worst a necessary evil.