The massive Bitcoin surge from $1,100 to $20,000 in 2017 turned many young investors into millionaires overnight, as they were seen flaunting sports cars and expensive gadgets that they bagged during the blockchain boom. The development turned cryptocurrencies into a serious investment vehicle, from an online asset, which had been largely forgotten for a decade after its inception. Almost immune to counterfeiting and not regulated by any central bank, the hype around crypto attracts millennials and GenZs, while it evokes concern among policy makers.
Secure assets in a turbulent market
As secure as the blockchain-based encrypted virtual coins may be, they are still being traded in a volatile market, where a single tweet by a Twitter obsessed billionaire can turn a meme coin into a valuable asset. At the same time, the lack of solid assets to draw value from, also wipes out value from the market when even ironically named stablecoins collapse. This year, the Terra-Luna crash marked the failure of crypto assets which were linked to the US dollar, while the FTX debacle brought the spotlight on how young, unconventional founders aren’t always the geniuses they look like.
The big three crypto fiascos
The Terra-Luna crash, set off when its native token lost parity with the US dollar in value, wiped off $200 billion from the crypto market. It turned out that the algorithmic stablecoin, which stands on a stablecoin and a cryptocurrency backing it, wasn’t standing on any solid…
