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Bitcoin promised us a financial utopia, a decentralized, democrat currency that didn't need the big banks or old institutions. A decade later, we are awash with different o currencies. Some are trying to be the next bit coin. Ship coins have no purpose except so the investors can buy them cheap, drive the sales and then sell them high. This is the guardian.

When the Guardian’s UK technology editor Alex Hern was contacted on Twitter to ask if he was involved in a new cryptocurrency called Tsuka, he assumed they just wanted him to buy it. He ignored the messages. But soon after Alex realised that, without knowing it, he was already involved. What happened next reveals a lot about the strange world of ‘shitcoins’ – cryptocurrencies with no reason for existence beyond buying low and selling high. Madeleine Finlay speaks to Alex Hern about his shitcoin saga, and how the lines can get blurred between a gamble and a scam. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod