Will FinTech kill the tooth fairy?

The Tinkerbell effect is an expression describing things that are thought to exist only because people believe in them. The effect is named after Tinker Bell, the fairy in the play Peter Pan, who is revived from near death by the audience who are told, “if you believe in fairies clap you hands”. In that sense, fairies and crypto meme coins have a lot in common — they get stronger the more people believe and tweet about them and die when they don’t!

I was explaining how fairies work to my daughter the other day. She had lost a tooth and so was due a visit from the tooth fairy. I’m not sure how widespread the tooth fairy tradition is in other cultures but in the UK if a child loses a tooth they can put it under their pillow at night and expect the “tooth fairy” to substitute the tooth for money. Children have far more faith in mystical things like fairies but my daughter is now of the age that she’s starting to question if there really is a tooth fairy or if it’s just daddy swapping her tooth for the £2 coin she finds the next morning. I explained to her that she’ll only be visited by the tooth fairy if she believes in her. Whether or not she still believes in the tooth fairy, she’s smart enough to keep her scepticism to herself and continue to benefit from the tooth/cash exchange!

The tooth fairy is a wholesome tradition but I wonder whether it’ll survive the…