A Crown confers what is called a Treasury Right. We don't have mining and mining pools. We do things really, really differently.
The Treasury Right is used by the mint as their authority to find a block and have it accepted by the network.
What specifically a mint decides to put in that block is up to them.
So with a Crown there are two ways you can use it. You can either use it to start a mint yourself, or you can lease it to an existing mint.
It is important to note that VIVA coin is used as the payment and settlement mechanism. Mints create money and this is paid to their workers, this means a mint must be engaged in some sort of business activity.
Thus what you're really speculating on when you buy crowns at this stage, is the value of that Treasury Right to a business. Or you buy it if you want to start a business that runs on top of this.
That's the reason we hammered out the fiat gateway issues first. It allows people to buy and sell VIVA for cash.
Consider something like Amazon AWS, but running on infrastructure they are leasing from individuals.