Bitcoin has lost most of its value this year
Other cryptocurrencies have followed suit
ON DECEMBER 17TH 2017 the price of bitcoin on CoinMarketCap, a cryptocurrency exchange, neared $20,000. True believers hoped that was just the beginning. One analyst at a Danish investment bank predicted bitcoin could be worth $100,000 by the end of 2018. The year is not yet over. But as The Economist went to press, bitcoin’s price was $4,223, and trending downwards (see chart). Where bitcoin goes, other cryptocurrencies follow. Ether, the second-most popular cryptocurrency, is down from $1,432 in January to $120 today.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Riding the rollercoaster”
Finance & economics December 1st 2018
- Financial firms have quietly prepared for Brexit
- Europe makes contingency plans for clearing-houses after Brexit
- Non-bank firms are now big players in America’s mortgage market
- Bitcoin has lost most of its value this year
- Green asset classes are proliferating
- Why opening pubs on the Emerald Isle is so difficult
- Corporate bonds in an ageing business cycle
- Paul Volcker’s memoir invites a rethink of the fight against inflation
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