The big news these days that isn't related to the mid-term election is the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange and the evaporation of $2B in investor wealth.
Good analysis, but there is one very important point left out. Even as a medium of exchange, a cryptocurrency (like any other currency) is an investment vehicle - that is, a floating store of value, depending on public perception of that value. It's the principle on which FOREX markets operate.
The difference between FOREX and cryptomarkets are somewhat related to the way currency valuations are regulated. Should any nation's currency become overly devalued that nation's government and/or central bank can take steps to increase it's valuation. Cryptomarkets do not have any sort of third-party regulation, and that opened the door to bad actors. FTX might be the worst of them (so far?), but all of the "exchanges" operate by their own rules and manipulate values to best suit their needs.
Back when this was all new and exciting, I said the real value wouldn't be in cryptocurrencies but in the technology that powers them: blockchain. The security and anonymity it provides is unparalleled by anything else and is exploding across the finance and tech sectors.
I'd suggest the only difference I might have with what you wrote lies in the concept of "investment." A store of value is an asset. An investment is about the pursuit of growth in value. Assets can be investments, or they can simply be stores of value.
You know who else hates slow and steady investing? The government.
Good analysis, but there is one very important point left out. Even as a medium of exchange, a cryptocurrency (like any other currency) is an investment vehicle - that is, a floating store of value, depending on public perception of that value. It's the principle on which FOREX markets operate.
The difference between FOREX and cryptomarkets are somewhat related to the way currency valuations are regulated. Should any nation's currency become overly devalued that nation's government and/or central bank can take steps to increase it's valuation. Cryptomarkets do not have any sort of third-party regulation, and that opened the door to bad actors. FTX might be the worst of them (so far?), but all of the "exchanges" operate by their own rules and manipulate values to best suit their needs.
Back when this was all new and exciting, I said the real value wouldn't be in cryptocurrencies but in the technology that powers them: blockchain. The security and anonymity it provides is unparalleled by anything else and is exploding across the finance and tech sectors.
I'd suggest the only difference I might have with what you wrote lies in the concept of "investment." A store of value is an asset. An investment is about the pursuit of growth in value. Assets can be investments, or they can simply be stores of value.