Michael Hiltzik: The legal system is closing in on crypto, and things may only get worse

Forget what T.S. Eliot said about April. For the crypto community and its related scamsters, the cruelest month was March.

That month saw a string of jury verdicts and judicial rulings that laid bare the dark underside of cryptocurrency trading, reinforcing its reputation as a haven for fraud and other illegality. The terrain hasn't proved any more inviting in April thus far, as regulatory investigations and judicial rulings continue to rock the asset class and its promoters back on their heels.

From the standpoint of ordinary investors and the economy as a whole, this is all good. As I've written before, the value of crypto tokens, from bitcoin down to the jokiest versions such as dogecoin, is so nebulous that they lend themselves to schemes aimed at separating unwary or gullible investors from their (real) money.

The value of cryptocurrencies can be placed anywhere. They don't produce income like bonds, and their prices can't be pegged to liquid markets like those of public