In the years leading up the 2008-09 crisis, the leverage ratio has increased. At the end of Q3 2020, the IMF’s Global Debt Database shows that total global debt reached US$275 tn. A not insignificant part of this debt is fictitious capital. Usually, a share of the global capital stock is inactive, while the remainder is valorised at a low profit rate for the pressure exerted by the inactive share of capital. The production-circulation-consumption cycle of a commodity lasts a long time, so, the entire valorisation process takes a long time. To shorten its life, the cycle must last less, and therefore be produced in less socially necessary labour time (SNLT); the commodities produced in new technological conditions will last less because they are worth less: they contain less SNLT. Once innovation is widespread, products made with old technologies would be too expensive compared to the new SNLT, but the transition can last a long time. The new numéraire can take a long time to establish itself on the market. What happens to firms that operate in non-efficient conditions? Until now, public bail-out or zombie-firms: are these solutions sustainable? The result is the formation of speculative bubbles: fictitious capital, parked waiting for a devaluation or destruction.