Hope you are well. And I hope David is recovering well?

Just a quick comment on cryptocurrencies.

I’ve thought about this a lot, and had a small mining setup a few years ago.

There is a kind of real value in them as they take electricity, cooling, tech knowhow, time and equipment to "mine" them. 

All those have a value. And it’s a massive community now.

As bitcoin has evolved, it now costs far more to mine one than 5 years ago due to its formula. The same with other coins.
In bitcoins case, I see them more of an asset in the cryptocurrency class. 

I also think everyone should have a bit of one just to find out how they work as they are definitely here to stay in some form. Plus, I feel they will constantly go up like other assets do, bubble or not. 

More of owning a small amount for fun, not an investment amount though, unless one has time to learn about them more.
Plus, you can legitimately, buy a lot of stuff with them now, so how do you define a currency?

Eoin Treacy's view

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on cryptocurrencies. I am well and with Mrs. Treacy returning from China yesterday familial bliss has been restored. 

David is under close observation and expecting to be in hospital until next week before returning to his country home. 
I agree there are an increasing number of potential uses for the blockchain, which lends credibility to the network and potentially value in the end uses it is put to. However, do not mix up input costs, which are liabilities, with outputs, which are credits. Electricity, cooling, tech knowhow, time and equipment represent the cost of production but have nothing to do with the value of what is being created. They simply represent the total of what has been spent to produce cryptocurrencies and therefore the marginal cost of production without which the product would not exist. 

The value of any asset rests in what someone else is willing to pay you for it. Right now, people are rushing to own cryptocurrencies and that is pushing up the price. However, if the value of the asset is to continue to increase, albeit in a jerky manner, over the long-term then the evolution of smart contracts, international transfers and record keeping based on blockchain will have to be delivered. Without a legitimate end use the cryptocurrency boom will eventually falter.  

In an environment where prices are accelerating higher I find it odd investors are so keen to point out that an increasing number of establishments are willing to accept bitcoin in payment. Of course, they area. The price has been going up quickly and they exchange a static asset for an appreciating asset. My question is why anyone would want to spend their bitcoins when the price is accelerating higher unless they have concluded the advance is over? Accepting bitcoin in payment today is akin to the mass proliferation of cash for gold stores in 2010. It’s a reasonably cheap way of accumulating an asset whose price is increasing. That doesn’t mean bitcoin is a currency. Rather the opposite in fact because the volatility in price is an inhibiting factor in everyday transactions.