It is heartening to see many individuals making charitable crypto donations to the resistance in Ukraine. But the real future for crypto is in sustainable commerce, not onetime transfers. I also cannot help but notice that crypto innovator Vitalik Buterin hails from Ukraine. A stable Ukraine, or for that matter Russia, is more likely to yield such value-enhancing entrepreneurs.

To be clear, this is not a skeptical argument against crypto. If crypto is good for many different purposes, and not just for one doomsday scenario, its value should expand with a healthier and more stable global economy. That is exactly what the current slump in crypto market prices is signaling.

It’s also important to put the apocalyptic scenarios for crypto aside. Probably nothing will work well or have high value in such worlds.

Someday, perhaps—though that day seems far-off now—crypto may well become just another boring financial instrument. If and when that day comes, it will be worth remembering that, when it comes to economic affairs, boring can be exactly what you are looking for.

Tyler Cowen is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is a professor of economics at George Mason University and writes for the blog Marginal Revolution. His books include The Complacent Class: The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream.

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