I'm pretty sure the end game is either exerting social or even legal pressure to KEEP the value going up, simply because so much money is involved.
It's like 'because this is ridiculous, it is therefore obvious that it's only about the money invested in it, not in any sense what it's 'about'. Therefore, the money has to keep getting more valuable. Because money, that's why.
If that argument holds, then it is money, full stop. No matter what else it is or isn't. The entire difference between it being a weird speculative prank, and it being money in the weightiest possible sense of the word, is how it's treated by society and any governments that have jurisdiction.
>I'm pretty sure the end game is either exerting social or even legal pressure to KEEP the value going up, simply because so much money is involved.
This just reminds me of how society screwed over future generations once the decision was made to treat housing as an investment. There is now a tremendous amount of social, political, and legal pressure to keep values going up in order to protect the financial health of a good percentage of people which is diametrically opposed with the financial health of a separate group of people who cannot afford those rising costs.
How would that pressure work exactly? Markets can remain irrational for a long time, but over a sufficiently long period they eventually revert to fundamental value. There is a limited supply of "greater fools" and they don't have infinite cash. Market values for other types of collectibles like ceramic figurines or stuffed animals have dropped significantly in recent years; sometimes there are no buyers at any price.
My hope, personally, is that the pressure would NOT work.
Market dynamics are fine in their place, even useful, but nothing about them is inherently free from exploit. Crypto and finance operate in a context that's set by law and custom. We agree 'if your crypto fails, hard luck, you lost money'.
If it was beneficial to literally threaten government until they changed the rule to 'if your crypto fails, but you are entity X, Y or Z, then you are to apply to the government and they will make you whole, printing 'money' if necessary'. This would be pitched in the name of 'stability' but it'd be a straight power play. The benefit to X, Y, and Z is obvious.
Doesn't matter much what kind of pressure they would impose, only the end result matters. It could be negotiation, blackmail, threat of physical harm: view this pressure as stepping outside the rules of the system to rig the rules of the system, secretly or explicitly. The idea is to legislate that markets can't be irrational, because (if you're X, Y, or Z) markets will be guaranteed to do what you want. No risk. Therefore, rational.
It's like 'because this is ridiculous, it is therefore obvious that it's only about the money invested in it, not in any sense what it's 'about'. Therefore, the money has to keep getting more valuable. Because money, that's why.
If that argument holds, then it is money, full stop. No matter what else it is or isn't. The entire difference between it being a weird speculative prank, and it being money in the weightiest possible sense of the word, is how it's treated by society and any governments that have jurisdiction.