Bitcoin: from illicit money to speculative bubble
China has clamped down on cryptocurrency trading and it is only a matter of time before US follows suit
As bitcoin ramps up in price, a new cryptocurrency is being launched every week. Cryptocurrencies are no longer a millennials’ utopian construct. The space has become big business with all types of investors (read: speculators) and white-shoe investment banks wading in on bitcoin prospects. The bitcoin conversation is now hitting the dinner table, with technophobes discussing how much money they could have made had they been lucky enough to invest $10,000 back in 2012. Blah-blah. Bitcoin’s raison d’être was to be a medium of exchange with a "store of value" underpin that is not under government control and not subject to central banks printing money at will. It appears to have been modelled on gold. Hence you have "mining" as a way of creating new bitcoin, and there was initially a cap on the amount of future supply. This cap has been circumvented through "splits"; now you have Bitcoin Core, the original, and Bitcoin Cash, the new uncapped bitcoin. Cheerleaders will tell you it is d...
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