• John Oliver gave a crash course on cryptocurrency and blockchain on Sunday night’s “Last Week Tonight.”
• He introduced the subject as “everything you don’t understand about money combined with everything you don’t understand about computers.”
• Oliver compared cryptocurrencies to a $15,000 Beanie Baby before focusing on the variety of potential uses for the blockchain technology underpinning tokens like bitcoin.
• He ultimately cautioned against investing in cryptocurrencies, telling those who do, “Just know that you’re not investing — you’re gambling.”

John Oliver gave a crash course on cryptocurrency and blockchain on Sunday night’s “Last Week Tonight,” introducing it as “everything you don’t understand about money combined with everything you don’t understand about computers.”

During the 25-minute episode, Oliver compared cryptocurrencies to a $15,000 Beanie Baby or any other “speculative investment” that people agree has value.

The “Last Week Tonight” host then focused on the potential of blockchain technology, the decentralized electronic ledger for cryptocurrency transactions.

In explaining the topic, Oliver played a clip of a blockchain researcher comparing a blockchain system to “a highly processed thing, sort of like a Chicken McNugget.”

“And if you wanted to hack it, it’d be like turning a Chicken McNugget back into a chicken,” Don Tapscott, the cofounder of the Blockchain Research Institute, said in the clip. “Now someday, someone will be able to do that, but for now, it’s going to be tough.”

Oliver noted that while companies like IBM and Walmart have experimented with blockchain to share data and transaction histories, it’s still an emerging field. He also cautioned against high-risk investments in cryptocurrencies.

“The point is: If you choose to invest in the cryptocurrency space, just know that you’re not investing — you’re gambling,” Oliver said.