It’s time to worry about cryptocurrency

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I’m in the back of an Uber, or maybe it’s a Lyft, I don’t know. It’s 2014. I’m in San Francisco on a business trip. The drivers’ English is spotty and the best I can offer is faded French so the chatter isn’t great. But the traffic is bad for SFO and we have time to kill. He dares an icebreaker: bitcoin?

Oh. Well. Sure, I’m familiar with the main cryptocurrency, but I’m a business reporter, not exactly your usual type on the street (OK, unless that street is in San Francisco). We stumble into a conversation where it becomes clear that the driver is curious about the economic potential of what was then a rather nascent concept: an entirely virtual currency ruled neither by man nor by the government but by a mysterious technology called blockchain.

The price of bitcoin was around $ 500 or $ 600 at the time, and most of the cryptocurrency headlines centered around two things: First, that crypto was being used to acquire illegal goods in the market. black, and second, that its value was volatile enough to spray a nest egg overnight with plenty of evidence to prove it. (An LA Times article published in the aftermath of a 2013 crash could barely contain what you were told: People who thought bitcoin could serve as either an investment vehicle or an alternative global currency turned to are given the head.)

My God, how times have changed. Today, there isn’t a cab driver across America who doesn’t know cryptocurrency, and while things are even more volatile than a Kanye West press conference, he’s become clear that bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin and their ilk are here to stay.

The price of a bitcoin at the time of this writing? About $ 42,500. The estimated market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies? Nearly $ 1.7 trillion, more than the GDP of almost a dozen countries (pagination by Warren Buffett).

If pure value isn’t enough justification for taking crypto seriously, look no further than El Salvador, whose legislature in June made bitcoin legal tender in the Central American nation. Or take a look at Tesla, the electric automaker and a Fortune 100 company, which at one point this spring accepted bitcoin as payment for its cars and had $ 1.5 billion on its balance sheet. And while the Federal Reserve has no interest in relinquishing control over the US monetary system, it is considering issuing a digital currency if only to avoid ceding technological supremacy to China.

In other words: it is finally time for you, an ordinary person, to get some crypto training. In some places the class has already started. According to a 2021 report assessing crypto adoption in the United States, 14% of the population owns a cryptocurrency and although the average crypto investor today is exactly the stereotype your mind might conjure up. (late 30s, male, annual income north of $ 100,000), tomorrow is more likely to be older, less wealthy, and female. Translation: more mainstream than ever.

Don’t have time to read the books? No sweating. The Brew Crew put together what we call our Crypto Crash course. Three times a week over the next month or so, get started on the Mandatory Readings which we promise will help you understand the crypto terrain, help you learn how to actually invest (and what), and help you get better. understand how it’s underlying technology works. Well, even devote a session to crypto crime, if that’s your bag, Debbie Ocean. All you need to do is subscribe to our newsletter.

Hopefully, you will learn that cryptocurrencies are for the most part no longer the random trades news readers learned nearly a decade ago, but an asset class to be taken seriously. Of course, not all of us can be as educated as my 2014 rideshare friend. He has clearly beaten most of us. But hey, if this driver bought big in bitcoin at the time and wasn’t scared off by subsequent swings, he’s probably since traded in his Prius for a Porsche and a Pacific Heights cushion.

Good to Wednesday.

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