TL;DR Money has three functions and cryptocurrencies fail as all three: 1) Unit of account, 2) Means of exchange, 3) Store of value. Let's look at them in turn. 1) Unit of account - The lack of sensible units of currency is highly problematic. For example, a Starbucks late costs you 0.0000053 units of Bitcoin. Good luck to the average person determining the correct value of their shopping cart. 2) Means of exchange - have you ever bought anything with bitcoin or do you know anyone who has? Almost no one has. Case closed. 3) Store of value. Bitcoin has insane 30 and 60 day volatility (up to 50% at various points in time over the past few years). No sensible business person would ever choose to pay or receive bitcoin in any business transaction where payment was delayed. As investments, cryptocurrencies have every hallmark of a bubble that will end badly, and they have no real history or stability as investable assets.

**TL;DR -- Monetary value is arbitrarily assigned to anything that humans find useful or appealing. Therefore, cryptocurrencies are just as valid as any shiny earth metal that makes us go "OOH, PRETTY! GIMME!" If it's valuable to enough people, then it's economically viable.** I'm not an economist, accountant, or anything even remotely specialized in understanding the nuances and inner workings of money. But I do understand money on a very basic level, and at its most basic, *money is an arbitrary value assigned to a random shiny thing we happen to like.* Whether that be gold, seashells, or imaginary currency that we make up out of thin air. If we value it, even in the slightest, it has a monetary value to *someone.* Take gold for instance. It only counts as money because a vast majority of people in the past decided that they really liked this shiny yellow metal so much, that it was worth trading for food, goods, and services. People killed and went to war over gold, which is nothing more than a byproduct of geological happenstance. Is that what makes gold more of a currency than bitcoin? Do we need to start killing and stealing over it for it to count? Hell, I don't even like gold all that much. I prefer silver. Does that mean that gold has no value? Hardly. Just because cryptocurrencies have no value to *some*, doesn't mean it has no value at all. If a human assigns value to something inanimate and arbitrary, it's viable as a currency. I play a game called Animal Crossing where the in-game currency is called Bells, but nobody wants Bells anymore -- they want items called "Nook Miles Tickets" so they can go search for their favorite villager to add to their island. NMT have become the new Animal Crossing currency, despite it not being the game developer's intentions. It's a currency now because people find it useful. They find *value* in it. And some people even pay real money for NMT! Anyway, my point stands: If silly green paper and shiny metal coins are *really* worth trading for essentials such as food and shelter, then cryptocurrencies are no different. They're arbitrary, they're valued, and they're in demand. And for that reason, they can't be denied as money or things to be invested in. Fyi, I hoard all NMTs I get in Animal Crossing to sell for Bells or trade for items I really want. NMTs have no value to me because I don't go island-hopping to search for villagers. But I *invest* in NMTs because other people find them valuable, and baby, I take advantage of that. My island is *decked out*. A wise investment indeed.