Technology Quarterly | Riding the rollercoaster
How to put bitcoin into perspective
The best-known cryptocurrency has been a failure as a means of payment, but thrilling for speculators
THE PRICE chart at CoinDesk, a cryptocurrency news site, begins on July 18th 2010, when a bitcoin could be had for $0.09. By November 2013 it had reached $1,124. In the summer of 2017 it started to take off, reaching over $19,000 in December. By end-March 2018 it was back down below $7,000 and in late August it was hovering between $6,400 and $6,500 (see chart). That has made a few people very rich (just 100 accounts own 19% of all existing bitcoin), encouraged others to play for quick gains and left some nursing substantial losses.
This article appeared in the Technology Quarterly section of the print edition under the headline “Riding the rollercoaster”
From the September 1st 2018 edition
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