"The tech founders who are building crypto platforms and tools, like the users who are buying and trading blockchain assets, are trying to produce wealth via rapidly appreciating speculative value."<p>And nothing of value is produced, it's a big zero-sum game of transferring money from greater fools to lesser ones. You just need a steady supply of greedy or desperate fools.<p>At least this time hopefully not the innocent tax payers will end up holding the bag like in 2008, but actual fools.
I'm a semi-big fan of cryptocurrencies and I've swallowed a sip of the koolaid. Still, it's a bit of a stretch to call them "investment banking." The various DAOs have delivered mixed results. It's hard enough to write bug-free code in regular life. Imagine trying to write a bug-free digital contract that will be immortalized forever on the blockchain.<p>So no. It's not investment banking. Maybe it's the beginnings of a payments network.