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NFTs and SPACs the insanity of casino capitalism

Marxist Analysis · 2026-05-13

Core Argument

The article argues that the frenzied speculation around NFTs and SPACs during the COVID-19 pandemic is not an anomaly or a sideshow, but a direct expression of the organic crisis of capitalism. The central claim is that these speculative bubbles are symptomatic of a system in senile decay, where vast quantities of state-injected liquidity, rather than flowing into productive investment, are being channelled into increasingly absurd forms of fictitious capital. The thesis is that this casino-like behaviour is not a temporary aberration but a structural feature of a capitalism that can no longer find sufficient profitable outlets for investment in the real economy.

Theoretical Grounding

The analysis is firmly rooted in Marx's theory of fictitious capital, as developed in Volume III of Capital. The article distinguishes sharply between the creation of real value through commodity production and the mere inflation of paper claims on future surplus value. The concept of fictitious capital is deployed to explain how share prices, NFT valuations, and SPAC market capitalisations can soar while the underlying productive economy contracts. The argument also draws implicitly on the Marxist theory of crises, particularly the notion that overaccumulation of capital in the productive sphere drives capitalists to seek refuge in speculative outlets. The reference to the "ultimate capitalist fantasy" of making money from money without the "cumbersome process of investment in production itself" echoes Marx's analysis of interest-bearing capital and the fetishism of finance. The article situates itself within the tradition of Marxist crisis theory that sees financialisation not as a separate stage but as a symptom of the declining profitability of productive capital.

Conjunctural Relevance

The article was written in March 2021, at a specific conjuncture within the COVID-19 pandemic. It identifies a stark contradiction: the real economy was suffering its worst crisis in history, with permanent damage predicted, yet stock markets reached new highs, Bitcoin hit record levels, and UK property prices rose 7.5 percent year-on-year. The article correctly identifies the mechanism driving this: trillions of dollars pumped into the economy by central banks, which instead of repairing productive capacity, fuelled speculative bubbles. Specific data points include the $69.3 million sale of Beeple's NFT at Christie's, the $79.4 billion raised globally by SPACs in Q1 2021 alone, and the case of Lucid Motors reaching a $64 billion valuation despite having produced no cars and having an estimated actual value of just $12 billion. The environmental destructiveness of blockchain technology is also highlighted, with one NFT consuming electricity equivalent to an EU citizen's average consumption over 77 years. The article connects this to the broader context of austerity for the working class alongside increasing wealth for the capitalist class during the pandemic.

Where the Argument Continues

This article is part of a sustained body of analysis by In Defence of Marxism on the nature of financialised capitalism and its crises. The argument continues in several directions:

  • On the Gamestop phenomenon: The article references the Gamestop short squeeze earlier in 2021 but does not develop it fully. This is explored in greater depth in other IDOM articles from the same period, which analyse the class dynamics of retail investors versus hedge funds.
  • On the broader crisis of profitability: The article states that speculation is a product of the "organic crisis of capitalism" and a "lack of profitable investments." This claim is the subject of more detailed theoretical elaboration in IDOM articles on the tendency of the rate of profit to fall and its concrete manifestations in the current period.
  • On the role of central banks: The pumping of trillions into the economy is identified as the immediate cause, but the article does not develop a full analysis of quantitative easing and modern monetary theory. This is taken up in other IDOM pieces and in Against the Current episodes.
  • On the political conclusion: The demand to "nationalise the big banks" is stated but not elaborated. The strategic question of how the working class can take control of the financial system is developed in the broader literature of the Revolutionary Communist International, particularly in texts on the transitional programme and the struggle for workers' control.

Connections

This article should be read alongside:

  • Marx, Capital, Volume III, Chapters 29-32: The theoretical foundation for the concept of fictitious capital and its relationship to the credit system.
  • Hilferding, Finance Capital: The classical Marxist analysis of the fusion of industrial and banking capital, though the article's focus on purely speculative forms goes beyond Hilferding's framework.
  • IDOM articles on the rate of profit: For the underlying economic mechanism driving the turn to speculation.
  • IDOM articles on the 2008 financial crisis: For comparison of the current conjuncture with the previous major crisis of financialised capitalism.
  • Against the Current episodes on cryptocurrency and blockchain: For a more developed Marxist critique of the political economy of digital assets.

Key Quotes

  1. "This is symptomatic of a declining system that lacks any logic or reason. Global capitalism has only been able to keep its head above water in the midst of the biggest crisis in its history thanks to trillions being pumped into the economy by central banks. Instead of being used to repair the damage, the capitalists are throwing this cash at all manner of absurd speculative bubbles."

  2. "The world economy is witnessing the creation of unprecedented quantities of what Marx termed 'fictitious capital'."

  3. "The exchange of shares on the stock market is not an actual exchange of commodities (i.e. of values). In fact shares represent a claim to future values, or profits that have not yet been made. The movements in the stock market, therefore, do not necessarily reflect the fortunes of the actual companies themselves, or the health of the economy as a whole."

  4. "Marx described how the ultimate capitalist fantasy was to make money from money, without bothering with the cumbersome process of investment in production itself."

  5. "Ultimately this trend towards speculation is a product of the organic crisis of capitalism. Rather than investing in the productive economy, due to a lack of profitable investments, capitalists increasingly seek to avoid the hassle of production itself, and pump money into the stock markets and other speculative areas."

  6. "The only way for the working class to end their collective misery is to do away with this rotten system in its entirety. This means nationalising the big banks and financial houses, ending the unproductive and parasitic finance capital casino, and expropriating, without compensation, the major stock exchange monopolies in order to utilise this wealth for the good of all of society."