While it is true that naive arguments against cryptocurrencies are just that - naive - it is also true that this article fails to address the central problem of bitcoin, which is that it is a Kardashian currency. By that, I mean it is intrinsically worthless but in demand because it meets a specific need. Bitcoin is worthless as a currency because (i) hardly anyone accepts it, and (ii) hardly anyone accepts it because its high volatility makes it worthless as a currency. High volatility destroys the one thing real currencies are modestly OK at, which is providing a fungible means of exchange. So if bitcoin isn't a currency, what is it? It's an investment. Speculation in bitcoin is 100% responsible for its rise and fall in value over the last decade. With interest rates are at near-zero levels, desperate yield-seeking has occurred. Property prices, share prices, and bitcoin prices all have risen dramatically over the last 24 months. But they haven't risen because of fundamentals. They continue to rise because others are still piling in, seeking yields and driving up the price still further. This is a never-ending price-rise across all asset classes forever and ever.

Until the bubble pops, as it always does.

But until then, the world is full of people explaining why "it's different this time." The lucky ones will get out before the pop; most will lose their shirts. Which is how it has always been. The only real question is: how many tulip bulbs to a bitcoin these days?