A veteran investment figure in the wealth management field plunges into the crypto-currency controversy.

The rapid rise of crypto-currencies means that money, which for decades has been based on nothing more that trust in governments, may have to go back to when mediums of exchange had "intrinsic value" of some kind, the newly-appointed chief investment officer of a Middle East wealth firm says.

Recent sharp falls in crypto-currencies such as Bitcoin has prompted claims that these digital innovations may fail and lose money for owners, but such predictions miss wider changes in the global monetary order, Gary Dugan, CIO at