The value is mostly speculative. But there are a few things that could be tied to long term business model viability.
- You already mentioned customers can use STORJ to get a discount. With the current transaction fees, that may not be viable for every customer, but on larger scale amounts it can still be helpful. If more customers want to do this, there is more demand for the token, which could increase the price. But atm, I don’t see this outpacing the speculative pressures any time soon.
- When Storj Labs runs out of reserves, it will be kind of a make or break moment. As they will have to buy STORJ back from the market in order to keep paying node operators. But by that time they also need to be financially viable in order to be able to afford that. If they are, the significant additional demand this creates could have a big impact on value. But if they are not… well, it could go the other way as well. However, this isn’t necessarily a single moment that is make or break for them. There are other sources of financing that can be used to extend their runway even if the token reserve runs out. I simplified it a bit here.
Bottom line is that Storj needs to survive for the token to keep its value. More customers and more data stored will shorten the runway Storj Labs has because they run through the token reserves faster, but will also increase the chances of long term viability.
The impact also goes both ways, a higher token value is good for Storj as it increases their runway, because it increases the value of their token reserves.
So while there is no strong tie to product value, there are some soft ties to company viability. Are those enough to outpace speculative price swings? Short term, definitely not. Long term… maybe.
Last note, people affiliated with Storj Labs will never speculate on token value. Communications stick to the known facts and updates are always sent through official communications, usually in the quarterly token reports. This is because they want to ensure they stay away from any possible optics of token and market manipulation. So while we can speculate and share info, don’t expect them to join in on that or even comment on it other than to say it is all speculative. Which it is, including my post here.