For Dante, money was sacred and the florin’s integrity was central to Florentine power. All these were efforts aimed at privatising public money and the latest example in this illustrious list is crypto. Quite apart from the problem of retail investors losing money on this new form of “makey uppey” private money, crypto has a major intellectual difficulty: what problem is it supposed to be solving? If or when it falls fully to earth, expect retribution for the various grifters who pushed and pumped it. The eighth circle of hell might be a bit extreme, but it won’t be pretty.

Source: The Irish Times February 07, 2026 09:02 UTC