Killing 'Cryptocurrency': Why It's Time to Retire the Term

Tim Enneking is managing director at Crypto Asset Management, which oversees Crypto Asset Fund, a regulated US cryptocurrency trading fund.

In this opinion piece, Enneking argues that the term "cryptocurrencies" is now outdated, and that new terminology is needed to describe the innovations being imagined and built in the blockchain industry.No, that headline is not a mistake.It’s not the cryptocurrencies themselves that should be killed off, but rather the term (hence the quotation marks). Labeling everything going on in the crypto world (space, ecosystem, universe: pick one) "currencies" is dead, passé, OBE… You get the idea.Two questions logically arise: First, why is the term dead and, second, if it's dead, what should replace it?As to the first, that's easy. There are two problems with applying the phrase "cryptocurrency" to what's going on in the space traditionally known by that name. First, the "coins" are acting less and less like coins and more and more like something else, perhaps equities.In fact, for my fund, we divide the cryptocurrency space into "blue chips," "large caps," "mid caps," "small caps," "pennies," ("penny coins" seemed redundant) and "NLT" ("no longer traded").(Now, before you think I am trying to tout my fund, please realize that we decided to name it "Crypto Asset Fund" for the same reasons as those I'm citing here. For the record, my prior fund was indeed called the "Crypto Currency Fund" – so we are following the same evolution as the crypto ecosystem itself.)

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Tim Enneking is managing director at Crypto Asset Management, which oversees Crypto Asset Fund, a regulated US cryptocurrency trading fund.In this opinion piece, Enneking argues that the term "cryptocurrencies" is now outdated, and that new terminology is needed to describe the innovations being imagined and built in the blockchain industry.No, that headline is not a mistake.It’s not the cryptocurrencies themselves that should be killed off, but rather the term (hence the quotation marks). Labeling everything going on in the crypto world (space, ecosystem, universe: pick one) "currencies" is dead, passé, OBE… You get the idea.Two questions logically arise: First, why is the term dead and, second, if it's dead, what should replace it?As to the first, that's easy. There are two problems with applying the phrase "cryptocurrency" to what's going on in the space traditionally known by that name. First, the "coins" are acting less and less like coins and more and more like something else, perhaps equities.In fact, for my fund, we divide the cryptocurrency space into "blue chips," "large caps," "mid caps," "small caps," "pennies," ("penny coins" seemed redundant) and "NLT" ("no longer traded").(Now, before you think I am trying to tout my fund, please realize that we decided to name it "Crypto Asset Fund" for the same reasons as those I'm citing here. For the record, my prior fund was indeed called the "Crypto Currency Fund" – so we are following the same evolution as the crypto ecosystem itself.)
The first is lending (fixed income), the second is a coin (equities) and the third is an ICO (IPO or alts). The italicized terms are the fiat equivalent of these three investments, which, by no coincidence, cover the three "legs" of the typical fiat investment "stool."So, let’s move to a much more accurate characterization of the space, ecosystem, universe, whatever (do I sense another opinion piece in the offing?) and call the sector (!) we’re working in "crypto assets" or even just "crypto", shall we?I'd argue it makes much more sense.Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Ripple.