Bitcoin and all the pathetic fake currencies that popped up in its wake are the worst thing to happen to the investment world in my lifetime. They are a joke wrapped in a fraud, wrapped in a Ponzi scheme and sold as a get-rich-quick investment opportunity.
While I’m told the underlying blockchain technology has some practical uses, I’ve yet to see much evidence of it.
Even if it does, it doesn’t justify the crypto hype. At its peak in November 2021, so-called alt-coins had a total market capitalisation of an incredible $3trillion (£2.5trillion).
That’s the same as the UK’s annual total economic output.
All that for a digital currency that isn’t backed by any central bank, has zero security and can vanish in a second with no redress.
Crypto is the misbegotten offspring of the US technology boom, but at least that brought real world progress.
Eulogy made by Harvey Jones
