The difference is that many, many people who were not directly financially invested in the internet in, say, 1997 could easily see that it was revolutionary. Mo

The difference is that many, many people who were not directly financially invested in the internet in, say, 1997 could easily see that it was revolutionary. Most of the people who pooh-poohed it were those who were not highly technical and did not understand the technology that well. (Krugman's an expert in his field, but his field is not technology.) Today, effectively the only people still saying cryptocurrency is revolutionary are those who are directly financially invested in it—and there are many, many highly technical people who understand the technology very well who say it's nothing but a scam.