Digital coin offers sizzle without the substance

THERE’S a new thing sweeping the international investment landscape. Its price is climbing the charts even faster than Taylor Swift’s new album “Reputation,” which sold 1.2 million copies in its first week.

It makes the flying FANG stocks look as tame as Treasury bonds.

Of course I’m talking about bitcoin. Like it or loathe it, own it or wish you did, there is no denying that bitcoin is here and has attracted a huge following, from tech investors even to generally skeptical Wall Street types.

Last week, Nasdaq announced it will launch bitcoin futures in the first half of 2018. This follows a move by the CME, which announced two weeks ago that it will begin trading bitcoin futures this month and on Friday received approval for trading from the CFTC,

That’s two bona fide US exchanges and one pre-eminent US regulator that will allow investors to bet on the rise and fall of bitcoin’s price.

Never wanting to miss being behind the curve, Washington decision-makers are now paying attention, which actually has the potential to be a good development if they don’t mess things up — something they have proven profoundly capable of (especially when they don’t understand something).

Or perhaps they will want to add a bitcoin tax to balance things out with the deficit hawks.

Few things in life are as scary as the notion that “Washington will solve it.” Look no further than Social Security, or health care or student loans.

But change is in the air in DC. Politicians need to work with the US security exchanges like the Nasdaq and the CME to find a way to integrate with the global exchanges that will surely come on line with bitcoin in short order.

While I am a big fan of the underlying blockchain technology with smart contracts and distributable ledger technology, bitcoin is a different story.

Although it is gaining acceptance, the cryptocurrency has the same scintillating sizzle without much substance that the internet had in its early days.

The real question for bitcoin investors is whether it will turn out to be an internet bubble in the fashion of AOL’s “You’ve got mail” — in this case, “You’ve got billions.”