Cryptocurrencies were created as a new way to make payments, built atop an innovative ledger technology known as blockchain. After existing for a decade and a half, they have largely not achieved their goal of upending how money moves around the globe.
However, they have become a hot asset class for investors to stash money in and encompass a whole lot of territory beyond that well-known turf—and stir befuddlement for most everyone besides true believers in the digital assets.
Nick Baker is a financial journalist and former editor at CoinDesk and Bloomberg News.
