# Crypto assets are predatory investments
Crypto assets are a form of predatory financial product. Crypto asset [market making](../concepts/market-maker.md) is subject to extreme forms of [market manipulation](../concepts/market-manipulation.md) not found in other regulated markets. The [price-formation](../concepts/price-formation.md) of crypto assets is untethered to any [fundamental-value](../concepts/fundamental-value.md) and instead depends purely on the [greater-fool-theory](../concepts/greater-fool-theory.md). 

The price setting by crypto excahnges and [order-book](../concepts/order-book.md) design admits extreme forms of [asymmetric-information](../concepts/asymmetric-information.md) which privileges an [economic cartel](../concepts/cartel.md) who can manipulate crypto assets to extract wealth from public from unfair market making.

The base economics of crypto assets make them [negative sum](negative-sum.md) which guarantees the amount of loses in the asset class exceed the gains.

Crypto assets are thus a form of predatory finance with negative [expected-return](../concepts/expected-return.md) much like [gambling](../concepts/gambling.md) in a rigged casino.

## References
* [@bindseil_encrypted_2022]
* [@momtaz_entrepreneurial_2020]
* [@kapsis_should_2021]
* [@iansiti_truth_2017]
* [@krugman_bitcoin_2018]
* [@krugman_bitcoin_2013]
* [@glongloff_bitcoin_nodate]