Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder and chief executive officer of FTX, in Hong Kong, China, on Tuesday, May 11, 2021.
Lam Yik | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesWith a nod to Gertrude Stein, "there's no there there," in the world of cryptocurrencies.
Whether it's manias in Sumerian grain markets, Dutch tulip bulbs, railroad bonds and everything from internet service providers to digital currencies, leveraged speculation is as old as markets themselves.
Digital assets that don't exist in reality have been used as collateral to buy and sell other non-existent assets with a heavy dose of borrowed money.
This creates a daisy chain of interlocked digital tokens that have no inherent value except what people are willing to ascribe.