By Felicity Duncan
When Bitcoin was in bubble territory at the beginning of the year, we at Biznews made a bit of a cottage industry of pointing out that booms are usually followed by busts (as did plenty of other publications). But the whole point of irrational exuberance is that it is, well, irrational and despite all the warnings out there, Bitcoin found plenty of investors during the bubble months from September to February.
On Monday, The New York Times profiled some of the hopefuls who invested in Bitcoin when it was on the up and up and have since been left nursing their losses. It’s a thought-provoking piece – the NYT points out that virtually everyone who bought cryptos in the last nine months is in the red now. It also shares some genuinely heart-breaking stories of people who lost their savings on a crypto bet. And on what may be an even more sobering note, it points out that, because so many ordinary investors lost big on their Bitcoin gambles, sentiment has turned against cryptos, which may ultimately hurt their long-term adoption.
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Hopefully, we’ve all learned a lesson from this bubble. At least, until the next time.
In Premium today, you can hear from Allan Gray on why they like Naspers, Glencore, and Implats. You can read about why long queues at the airport are killing business travel and you can learn what lessons the crisis in Turkey holds for South Africa.
