Cryptocurrencies are still mainly used for speculation

The main innovation of Bitcoin, Ether and other permissionless cryptocurrencies is that for the first time, individuals can transact without an intermediary. 

One way to quantify the amount of usage that permissionless cryptocurrencies are getting is to look at the total value settled on-chain. This metric is defined by Coinmetrics as the USD value of all on-chain transactions adjusted by removing noise (such as repeated transactions from the same addresses) and other artifacts.