It's a completely speculative market with no basis behind it, essentially gambling. But hey, if you can afford to lose it, go for it. I only wish I had played with mining a decade ago.
I am not sure if I am horrified or laughing hysterically over the fact that one of the first bitcoin transactions was 20k bitcoin for 2 pizzas... At ~ $15k for a bitcoin lately he only paid $300 million for those pizzas...
A good friend of mine is playing with bitcoin, he is about $3500 in and about $32k up. He can afford to lose the $3.5k, but I keep telling him to cash out his investment and play with the casino's money. On the other hand, he bought a PC game about 6 months ago thinking it was cool he bought it in bitcoin, and 4 months later realized the amount of bitcoin he spent was now worth over $500... Of course he didn't spend $500 on it, but the perception is that he did, just like the pizzas cost that other guy $300 mil. I think it's because in my perspective, the U.S. dollar is the basis for everything material. The 2 dollars per hour I was making 35 years ago is, in my mind, the same as 6 dollars today. But at the same time, a $50 video game 30 years ago is not worth $150 today. It's a paradox, lol.
I have a hard time seeing crypto currencies as anything more than poker chips.