LETTER IN FINANCIAL TIMES:
Jemima Kelly “The grim ghost of crypto future,” Opinion, December.

How we name things influences how we understand them, and so I particularly appreciate her avoidance of two words that are often used in articles about crypto: “currency” and “investment”. Crypto “coins” or “tokens” are entries in a digital ledger and do not come close to meeting the basic definition of a currency, which is that it be a unit of account, a means of exchange, and a store of value. And anyone putting money into crypto is a speculator, not an investor. On what basis would you buy a crypto token? It pays no dividend, it is backed by no underlying assets, and it cannot be transported in a money belt when storm troopers kick in your front door as you slip out the back. It can, of course, be stolen by hackers, and is useful for laundering dirty money.

But the only reason for the average Joe to buy any crypto token is the hope of selling it at a higher price to someone else.