A week before Christmas, this headline about a random cryptocurrency no one has ever heard of was read more than most best sellers: Asians Going Mad For Ripple Coin. At the time, Ripple (XRP) was worth around a dollar. Today it is worth $2.45. This will be the year that more unknown cryptocurrencies double in value. How many will quadruple in value is anybodys guess.Sure, many of these new coins will disappear from the market. At their heart, the cryptocurrency craze is like the startup craze on steroids. Newly minted companies are going around the venture capital world, issuing their own digital currency, and having almost no problem at all finding willing investors. Got snake oil? No problem! Someone in Asia will take two bottles worth.While setting up an initial coin offering is not cheap and needs upfront angel investing to foot the bill, the ICO market has turned what was once a half dozen cryptocurrencies led by Bitcoin into a $650 billion market overrun by over a thousand cryptocurrencies. These currencies are tied to new, unknown companies selling products and services no one has ever heard of, understands, and may have no real use for.As an investment vehicle, the cryptocoin is the markets version of a poker chip. If you thought junk bond lords in the 80s were nuts...