The nature of value in Chinese domains - Are they business assets or currency?

What is the nature of value CHIP domains have - are they valuable because it's a new trend for the Chinese to move their business websites to short and numeric domains (postal codes or phone numbers?) and therefore investors started to grab all possible combinations, or chip domains are like currency, like bitcoin, where a critical mass of people decided it was valuable and the rest followed them.

Or, to approach the question from a different angle: how does their value depend on actual websites using them?

I ask because I'm interested how the recession the world is entering will change value of Chinese domains? If they are purely business assets, then they will fall in value because businesses will try to cut costs, but if they are a 'currency' themselves, independent from government power, they might get a boost.

If I'm completely off base on Chinese domains, please explain why.

Thanks