This leaves it as a highly volatile unregulated investment, one solely based on market sentiment, which in that respect makes it little different to many other stocks in this meme age.
The question I find myself trying to answer as a newspaper editor is how we should deal with this. Do we ignore the craze by screaming and shouting that it is wrong, or do we have a responsibility to educate people about what exactly crypto is and how to invest safely, if that is what they want to do?
I know one thing: crypto is not going to go away.
Equity scandal
One of the ongoing problems from the global banking crisis has been the creation of mortgage prisoners; the former customers of bust lenders who have found themselves shunted onto hedge funds and private equity who bought these old books of business.
There is no incentive for these businesses to offer these customers cheaper deals.
And so we are starting to see the same problems with equity release. The modern day sale of equity release is robust and heavily regulated, but in the past it was not. And the inability of many borrowers to refinance is becoming highly damaging for the reputation of the industry.
But many of these books of equity release have been sold on to private finance houses who care little for the industry or for the problems of the customer they have inherited.
If equity release wants to avoid another damaging scandal it needs to find an answer to this potentially highly damaging problem, quickly.
Armaments and ESG
Is a tank a weapon or a peace-keeping device? That's a question thrown up from the conflict in Ukraine.
There was a very convincing argument made by an analyst at Morningstar for the inclusion of weapons makers in environmental, social and governance portfolios – and the fact many portfolios do include arms makers.
The distinction is that true ESG will not include controversial weapons, such as chemical weapons and anti-personnel land mines.
Which is interesting, but are not all weapons essentially controversial?
James Coney is money editor of the Times and Sunday Times
@jimconey
