What do you do with a virtual designer sneaker? There are appar-ently a fair number of people who believe they know the answer to this question. At least one can spend thousands of dollars on the Internet platform RTFKT for brightly colored unique sports shoes that only exist in cyberspace.

Thanks to NFT technology, which has just come into fashion, the friends of rare immaterial and expensive sneakers can live out their passion unchecked. The same goes for lovers of other collectibles, from fine art to mundane football pictures.

Not only does that sound strange, it is. The NFT hype is another indication of the late-decadent party on the global financial markets that WILL end with a gigantic hangover at some point.

There are two phenomena behind the new passion for cyber collecting: the appeal of the new technology and the glut of liquidity that is penetrating increasingly exotic markets. Neither trend is sustainable.

The allure of the new will wear out, and once the global investor community gets seriously nervous, liquidity will vanish from the most risky and remote parts of the market - and that includes the NFTs.

Then it WILL show that phenomena like the hype about the unique crypto tokens are nothing more than pyramid schemes. Investors in desperate pursuit of returns are driving the prices of increasingly obscure assets soaring, attracting speculators who are dying to further fuel inflation. The big losers will be those who get in last and still have money on the table after the smarter speculators are long gone.

The single question is, when will the passion for collecting become speculation? The most important distinguishing feature: For him it is about the possession of the coveted good, the speculator about the most profitable trade possible. The boundaries are fluid, but in the NFT market they seem to be shifting at a rapid pace towards speculation.

At the beginning of the infamous tulip mania in the Netherlands in the 17th century there was ...