Depending on whom you ask, cryptocurrency is either a cutting edge financial innovation or an elaborate investment scam that would make Allen Stanford blush.
Regardless of where you fall on the crypto spectrum, one immutable fact is clear: the bubble has burst. What was seen several years ago as a gateway to instant wealth — a wager by investors that these unregulated strings of computer code would someday replace the fiat currencies backed by governments that are the bedrock of our financial system — has tanked spectacularly.
Roughly $2 trillion in cryptocurrency value has been erased in recent months. Flagship crypto asset Bitcoin has seen its value plummet from a peak of roughly $68,000 in November to a low of $20,000 in June, a 70 percent tumble. It turns out that no amount of complex coding can overcome the economic laws of gravity — soaring inflation, rising interest rates and growing fears of a recession. No wonder investors are reconsidering their bets on crypto.
But they are not the only ones feeling the pain of the crypto crash. Public pension funds have also seen their investments go up in smoke. The Associated Press reported last week that the Houston Firefighters Relief and Retirement Fund is among a small handful of public pension funds across the nation that bet on the digital currency boom.
The Houston firefighters’ investment was relatively small — $25 million in Bitcoin and Ethereum, a…
