[Photo: Vice.news.com]

Duh! As Ron Urban tells it, in his recent article in Bloomberg, you don’t have to own digital currceny to make money off of it. Instead, just do the taxes for the hundred of firms and individuals who are hawking the digital tokens. Or provide back-office services like custody banking and trading systems along with tax accounting.

The functions are essentially the same as in traditional, with certain unique challenges. For example, the number of decimal places in a crypto asset can be up to 18-plus digits, which can break a lot of accounting systems.

Hundreds of firms like Libra Services, Inc., which provides back-office services, are competing to sell the nuts and bolts of the burgeoning market. Startups financed by venture capital and token sales are fighting for advantage as the field begins to get crowded.

Like the sellers of mining implements during the 1849 Gold Rush, they plan to profit whether or not Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies turn out to be digital treasure.