> glorified casino

Are you saying that this isn't the case for crypto?

I suppose the stock market would be more like a "rigged casino" since the government's central banks can print money and confiscate funds (see Cyprus), but with pretty much all market leading crypto such things are impossible if you dont store you money on exchanges.

Keeping your cryptocurrency in your own wallet guarantees nothing about its exchange value, though; the "price level" of cryptocurrency absolutely is set by the fraudulent practices of the exchanges even if you don't go near them yourself.

There are "fraudulent practices" in the real world exchanges - look at how LIBOR was/is rigged (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libor_scandal). And I certainly hope its "exchange value" isn't exactly the same as a government currency as that would defeat the purpose of having something different in the first place...