Cryptocurrencies: Real Currencies?

Cryptocurrencies are developing rapidly. Based on an examination of the traditional functions of money, however, not all specialists accord them the same status. To get beyond this debate, the purpose of this contribution, which inverts the direction of the analysis, is to show that cryptocurrencies have five characteristics making them phony currencies: they have no legal basis, the economic basis of their value is not based on production, they can be imitated fairly easily, they are most often used locally, and they are difficult to convert. Crypto asset is therefore the appropriate term.