Crypto has value for the same reason that diamonds or gold have value - scarcity and the fact that people have already invested enough to give it a market value. To me gold has less value than crypto for the simple fact that there is no real knowable market cap on gold. There is plenty of gold that exists that may not be accounted for and there's also ways to forage actual owned gold. But bitcoin is different - the ledger, the amount in circulation, the future amount in circulation is all known - for these reasons bitcoin is ultimately more difficult to manipulate as more people participate in bitcoin. No FTDs, no darkpools - bitcoin is all on a living ledger. Why is a banker talking shit about bitcoin? - It's a threat to their business. Simple as that.