Bitcoin for the open-minded skeptic - Paradigm

2013: From ~$13 (Jan 2013) to ~$266 (Apr 2013) to ~$65 (Jul 2013)

Risk: Technical Risk: The Bitcoin codebase and network have been battle-tested for over a decade, but it continues to evolve and there remain some open questions about how the system might behave in the long run (for example, when the Bitcoin supply approaches its asymptote and miners must be compensated primarily with transaction fees rather than ... See more

As Nobel-laureate Robert Shiller observes: “Gold is a bubble, but it’s always been a bubble. It has some industrial uses, but basically it’s like a fad that’s lasted thousands of years.” This is not an argument against gold (or Bitcoin) as a valuable monetary asset, but an astute insight into the bubble-like, reflexive nature of money.

2011: From ~$1 (Apr 2011) to ~$31 (Jun 2011) to ~$2 (Nov 2011)

2017–2018: From ~$1000 (Apr 2017) to ~$19500 (Dec 2017) to ~$3500 (Dec 2018)

Throughout Bitcoin’s 11-year history, there have been at least four Bitcoin bubbles of note

Risk: Bitcoin has been (and continues to be) quite volatile relative to US Dollars. There is risk that this volatility limits adoption or prevents investors from considering Bitcoin as a credible store of value. For better or worse, this volatility may be inherent to the process of Bitcoin adoption as natural swings in investor confidence (as faced... See more