At it's fundamental level, it's a line of computer code, I grant you it's a line of computer code that has been monetized, but still just a line of computer code.
part of it's intrinsic value is it's scarcity.
Not so scarce when you can just hard fork it and start a whole new bitcoin.
It has hard forked 7 times just in 2017, and that's with them purposely slowing it down.
BTC Coin Splits:
Bitcoin Cash (Forked at Block 478559[1], 1 August 2017)
Bitcoin Gold (Forked at Block 491407[2], 24 October 2017)
Bitcoin Diamond (Forked at Block 495866[3], 24 November 2017)
UnitedBitcoin (Forked at Block 498777[4], 12 December 2017)
BITCOIN HOT (Forked at Block 498848[5], 12 December 2017)
BitcoinX (Forked at Block 498888[6], 12 December 2017)
Super Bitcoin (Forked at Block 498888[7], 12 December 2017)
Not sure what you mean here.
When bitcoin was launched it was to be the new currency that people are going to use to buy and sell. Now, it's no longer that. Now all of a sudden were to believe it's really just a place to store your wealth. But there is counter-party risk even to that.
Similar to the way that gold is really "just a piece of metal", you are right it is just a line of code. Like a single piece of gold, a bitcoin is unique and separate from all others of it's kind. Like gold, a bitcoin can be owned and completely controlled by individual. It's crytographic security ensures that only the owner can claim it, control it and spend it. If you have the private keys to a wallet containing bitcoin (or fractions of bitcoin) you OWN the contents....just like gold. There is one difference however. Gold can be physically taken from you. Men with guns (either in hoodies or uniforms) can take it from you. If you are on a plane, crossing a border, driving in your car, asleep in your house, sitting in a court room, etc...and you have gold in your possession, men with guns from a gang or the government can come and take it from you. Bitcoin cannot be taken like this. You could theoretically walk right through customs with a million dollars in Bitcoin inside your brain and nobody could ever be the wiser.
Not so scarce when you can just hard fork it and start a whole new bitcoin.
You are completely misunderstanding what a fork is. It is not creating a "whole new bitcoin" as you say. It is creating a whole new other type of coin and using the existing public Bitcoin ledger to determine where the starting point of the new type of coin begins. BCH is not the same as BTC which is not the same as BCX. That is why one is valued at $2500, one is valued at $16,000 and one is valued at $0.06. If they were the same thing why would they have different values? Some of the alt-coins created in forks have no value, some have a little value and some are quite valuable. This is dependent on the characteristics of the various coins and whether people think they have potential to be beneficial.
I agree with your last statement. I am disappointed that the fees are so high and the transactions take so long that it is impractical to be used for day to day currency. That does not negate the other positive attributes. The purpose of many of the forks is to try and create a new type of coin that will be able to be used as day to day currency. I envision a time 10 or 15 years down the road where crypto users will have 2 main wallets. A BTC wallet that acts as a "savings account" and some alt-coin wallet that acts as a "checking account". This may be BCH or LTC or DASH or something else. You might make monthly or bi-weekly transfers or exchanges from Bitcoin(BTC) to alt-coin to fund your day to day needs. A $5 or $10 fee to keep your alt-coin wallet (checking account) funded with money you paid 1% of the current value for 10 years ago does not seem like a bad deal to me!
I could be completely wrong and it all might fall apart tomorrow but instead of taking $50 every now and then to the slots or to a card game, I put it in BTC and see what happens. I just won my fantasy football league this past weekend. Guess where that money is going....