The writer is an FT contributing editor

I’m a financial historian, and one of the hazards of my profession is that sometimes people ask me what I do. I tell them and watch them back away slowly, hoping to bump into someone, anyone else. I have noticed a charming exception, however: crypto dads. They have tasteful haircuts and good manners. They read history and think about money and want to talk to me.

I am genuinely happy to talk to crypto dads. I have dad energy myself. I think financial history is fascinating and they do, too. I keep hitting a wall in these conversations, though, and it comes down to epistemology — how we know what we know, and how we know that it’s true.