While I wish Mr. Murphy would not have made a critical video without doing more research first, his opinions represent a larger issue at hand, that obviously was already well known:
People do not trust crypto.
And even as a hardcore crypto fan, they are not unfounded in that belief, as there has been no shortage of people leading the public to have mistrust in crypto over the years.
Where I start to have a problem is when people talk about crypto like the industry isn’t pro legislation. I’m writing this on June 18, 2025, when the senate has just passed the GENIUS act, a triumphant feat of the great Gurney Halleck of crypto himself, David Sacks.
Richard Murphy is misguided in his panic.
He uploaded a text calling cryptocurrencies “the giant economic con trick of our age”, which is extremely hyperbolic and false. Ironically so, he is an emeritus professor of accounting at the Sheffield University Management school. I say ironically, as he should understand money’s assumed value.
He argues that crypto is based on hate. A hate of banks. A hate of government. A hate of systems.
I strongly disagree.
Crypto is a rejection of unaccountable power. It’s not a con. It’s a reconstruction.
Crypto is built on earned mistrust
Crypto was born in 2009, when trust in financial institutions had collapsed. Lehman had failed. Governments bailed out banks, not people.
Bitcoin’s first block literally references the U.K. bailout of banks.
Crypto doesn’t hate institutions. It simply asks:
What if you didn’t have to trust institutions at all?
That’s not hate. That’s protocolized neutrality. Trust reimagined as code, not loyalty to anachronistic constructs.
“No Value” is an empty argument
Murphy claims crypto has no inherent value, while standing in front of a bookshelf.
I do not want to buy one of his books, therefore to me, his books have no value.
It’s actually quite a simple concept.
I would not accept a Ruble as a form of currency. Nor would I accept a Ugandan shilling - as to me, an American, it has no value.
I would accept Bitcoin, however.
Why?
Because Bitcoin is:
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Scarce
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Decentralized
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Incorruptible
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Chosen freely by millions globally
Why?
Because Fiat money isn’t “inherently” valuable - it’s valuable because people agree it is. That’s market-driven value. Not state mandated value.
My great-grandparents survived the Weimar Republic’s period of hyperinflation, where the governments currency, the Mark, was burned in wheelbarrows to keep warm as it had no value.
That cannot happen to Bitcoin.
In addition, as a U.S. citizen, unless I actively invest, my money goes down due to inflation. This is chosen by the FED to meet “inflation targets”, which could be the subject for another post.
This also cannot happen to Bitcoin.
Volatility is a feature of emerging systems
Every major innovation is volatile at first. Tech stocks were volatile. The early internet was unstable. AI was a bit strange to use up until ChatGPT. New systems are unpredictable - until they’re not.
Stablecoin’s surge lends itself to being cryptocurrencies ChatGPT moment, but we’ll see.
Crypto has volatility, yes. But it also has usage:
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$1T in stablecoin volume in each quarter.
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Millions in emerging markets using it as a hedge against inflation.
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Builders using Ethereum, by the great cryptographic mind Vitalik for finance, contracts, identity, and community.
It’s messy because it’s early - not because it’s broken.
Crypto was only really invented in 2009. AI has been actively tweaked since 1955, and even before that Alan Turing and others were conversing over it.
In my opinion, due to the security optimized minds like Vitalik, Brian Armstrong, the Winklevoss’s and others — crypto has advanced pretty fast.
“It’s Just for Criminals” is Tired - and false
The idea that crypto is for crime is not just outdated - it’s backwards:
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Blockchain is public, auditable, permanent. Law enforcement uses it to catch criminals.
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Chainalysis: <0.25% of crypto volume is illcit - far lower than traditional finance.
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Drug cartels still prefer cash, real estate, and HSBC (which was actually fined for laundering billions).
Crypto is less private than cash, not more.
As someone from Miami, if we used the argument that we shouldn’t use dollars because Escobar was smuggling drugs in the 80’s - we would be nowhere today. Ironically, that argument was never made at the time. Cypto skeptics just randomly whip it out to further their argument into la-la land.
Just watch one ‘Coffeezilla’ video and you’ll see how traceable cryptocurrencies are.
Crypto’s just pre-regulation
And no one in the crypto industry is fighting against regulation. They’re actively fighting for regulation.
That just goes to show how honest the core people behind crypto are.
Murphy treats the lack of regulation as evidence of danger, whereas it’s evidence of innovation simply outpacing bureaucracy - just like Uber, Airbnb, or the internet itself once did.
The crypto industry has:
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Self-regulated exchanges with audits and reserves
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DeFi protocols with public, open-source code
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Builders lobbying for clarity, not chaos
Regulation is coming - and many in crypto welcome it. It’s just been that for far too long, politicians have never developed great common sense regulation. Past politicians have instead been reactionary, taking money hand over fist from a casino gambler when it served their political party, then once the person has a fall from grace they become crypto’s gestapo.
Gestapo is putting it lightly under the Biden administration, that’s just a fact.
Transparent, voluntary risk
Crypto is risky. But it’s not hidden behind paperwork or fine print.
You know the risks. You know custody is on you. You know it’s an experiment.
And here’s the difference:
With crypto, you can opt out. With fiat failures - you can’t.
Ask anyone in Argentina, Lebanon, Turkey or Nigeria.
Crypto isn’t a game to them. It’s a lifeline.
Lack of understanding
I have a lifelong annoyance at people who do not know what they are talking about, yet they act like their word is the word of gods. Their way or the highway. People who briskly hear a headline or too and create an entire narrative in their head that they orate to others.
I would not make a video, or a Substack post talking about Space or the solar system. About permaculture. About genetically modified foods.
Why?
Because I know what I don’t know. Am I open and willing to learn from the best and brightest? Sure, but I won’t yap B.S. like a jackass until then.
Crypto isn’t trying to imitate banks. It’s questioning whether banks should be the only way to move, store, or assign value in the first place.
Bitcoin isn’t a payment app. It’s a new monetary foundation. A software-based settlement layer with finality, scarcity, and no central counterparty.
Ethereum isn’t a company. It’s a base layer for executing contracts and rules without intermediaries - a cause that I, specifically, deeply support.
Stablecoins aren’t speculation - they’re programmable dollars with global reach, already being used at scale where legacy rails fail.
Murphy sees disorder because he’s looking for familiar forms. Central banks, customer service desks, regulatory umbrellas. But crypto isn’t trying to rebuild the same thing with new logos. It’s building something more fundamental: trust without permission.
Not ideological. It’s Architectual.
Crypto is often framed as libertarian, or anti-government, or anti-establishment. But that’s a category error.
This isn’t about left vs. right. It’s about centralization vc. optionality.
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Some use crypto to bypass capital controls
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Others use it to escape platform dependency
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Some use it to avoid censorship
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Others, like me, use it to automate trust.
Crypto is best understood not as a movement - but as a protocol layer: modular, neutral, open. Anyone can build on it. No one can unilaterally control it.
And that neutrality, that absence of gatekeeping, is what makes it dangerous to incumbents, and indispensable to outsiders.
Murphy defends an exploitative system
Murphy paints crypto as the Wild West. But what he defends - the traditional system - is hardly some moral high ground.
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2008: Global banks sold fraudulent products and got bailed out. No jail
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2012-2022: Central banks printed trillions, inflating asset prices and pushing the working class out of home ownership.
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Today: Credit bureaus dictate who gets access to capital, based on opaque algorithms and historical discrimination.
And yet Murphy says this is the system we should trust?
Crypto is messy, yes. But it’s at least honest about its rules. If anything, Murphy should be a fan of cryptocurrencies, as he’s worked extensively as an economic justice campaigner.
Reassignment of risk
Murphy’s biggest emotional swing is this: crypto makes you responsible for yourself.
He says that’s neoliberal cruelty. But there’s another way to see it.
Crypto gives you control - and with it, responsibility.
You can custody your own assets. You can own your own identity. You can build your own rails. And yes, you can mess it all up.
But that’s radical ownership - and for many, that’s worth the trade-off.
We’ve lived too long in systems that externalize the upside and socialize the risk. Crypto flips the script.
Legal tender ≠ Real
Murphy repeats the line “crypto isn’t legal tender”. That’s a feature, not a flaw.
Legal tender means the state forces acceptance. Crypto is voluntarily accepted.
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Bitcoin isn’t legal tender in the U.S. - but you can buy a Tesla with it.
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Stablecoins aren’t backed by governments - but they’re used for billions in commerce.
Money is what people use. Period.
Crypto proves that people are willing to use money that isn’t controlled by anyone - because that neutrality is the trust layer.
Find me something better
The real question isn’t: Should crypto exist?
The real question is: What would you build instead?
Because so far:
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No bank has created borderless, censorship-resistant rails.
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No government has offered programmable money without surveillance strings.
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No legacy system has made global financial access as easy as a phone & wallet.
Crypto won’t succeed because it’s trendy.
It’ll succeed because no one else is building systems with this level of openness, composability, and global reach.
You can be skeptical. You can hate the memes. You can roll your eyes at the hype.
But if you’re intellectually honest - and globally aware - you can’t ignore the why behind crypto.
Crypto is the most serious attempt in our generation to:
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Rebuild financial trust without middlemen
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Restore sovereignty to individuals
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Reduce dependence on institutions that have already failed too many
Even if it fails, which it won’t, it will have proven one thing:
People are done waiting for permission to opt out of broken systems.
If you disagree, I would love to do a livestream debate on your terms, Richard.