David Fickling, Columnist

Crypto Scams and Modern Capitalism Are Long-Lost Siblings

Yes, there's been bailouts, but only to maintain the stability of the conventional financial system, not the alternative, digital one.

March 29, 2023 at 8:00 PM UTC

By David Fickling

David Fickling is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering climate change and energy. Previously, he worked for Bloomberg News, the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times.

Crypto and the South Sea Bubble have a lot in common.
Photographer: Edward Gooch Collection/Hulton Archive

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Surveying the vast waste of the past year’s cryptocurrency collapse — trillions in notional market value evaporating in months; allegations that the founder of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX bribed Chinese officials; and a punishing lawsuit from US regulators against rival exchange Binance Holdings Ltd. this week — it’s tempting to believe that nothing like this has happened before.

Thank goodness the commanding heights of our financial system are run on the soundest of principles, rather than the sort of delusional faddishness that caused self-obsessed millennials to pay $3.4 million for a cartoon of a monkey.