The Financial Post reports in its Thursday edition that the cryptocurrency bulls are back. A Financial Times item inside the Post says that bitcoin surged to $44,000 (U.S.) on Tuesday, its highest in nearly 20 months. As with any instrument, the case for cryptocurrency hinges on finding a convincing narrative. Unlike other assets, bitcoin has no intrinsic value, nor is it backed by anything. Cryptocurrency optimists expect signs of a possible U.S. regulatory approval for spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds from Blackrock and others to drive a wave of cryptocurrency fund products backed by mainstream asset managers. Wider institutional adoption by serious players, they claim, gives cryptocurrency credibility -- but the buy-and-hold case is full of holes. Cryptocurrency's brushes with the law are far from over and authorities are still cautiously calibrating regulations and hearing legal cases. Gary Gensler, chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, said the sector was rife with "fraud, scams, bankruptcies and money laundering." Spot bitcoin ETFs offer protection against wallet theft, but they do not protect investors from cryptocurrency's volatility. Bitcoin has collapsed before; it will surely do so again.