Following the collapse in bitcoin’s price last year many commentators came to the same conclusion. Knowing a safe bet when they saw one, the pundits wrote off bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a bubble that had popped forever. The real focus, they declared, should be on the blockchain technology underlying bitcoin that had the potential to revolutionise the world of finance. Indeed, the world of everything.

This view was remarkably common. And, so far, remarkably wrong. Not only has bitcoin staged a dramatic recovery, but the bounce has been accompanied by increasing disillusionment about the potential of blockchain.