Earlier quoted context omitted.
The social benefit to storing value is de-risking against the future (2). I keep some money in my bank account so that if I need to buy food for a month with no source of income I can(1). If the money in my bank account buys a third as much food tomorrow because it lacks stable value as a store, that's bad for society, because if I'm going to starve to death, I might as well use the remaining energy I have to burn so…
Yes, storing value is useful, but not storing value doesn't make a currency useless. You can always store value in other ways, by purchasing assets - such as food, or another currency. It's worth noting that people tend to like to do this anyway, even when the currency is already pretty stable - because a house you can rap your knuckles against feels like a more secure store of value than numbers in a bank.
Re: Lone Bitcoin Whale Likely Fueled 2017 Price Surge, Study Says
#251Money is designed (by central banks) to depreciate at 2%/yr. Most erstwhile "durable" goods depreciate at a faster rate. Your house certainly does. Heck, taxes and insurance alone are almost 2%, before you even look at physical depreciation, which is generally estimated to be at least 1%/yr.
(Speculative assets like the land it sits on might appreciate far more to compensate, however.)