Tracking this currency over one day made my head spin
Wednesday, May 19, 10.59am: Bitcoin value $40,408.08
THE extent to which bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are seen as a new form of investment was highlighted in a recent interview I did for these pages with 20-yearold Kevin Owens, owner of the Sneaker Cleaner business.
Asked whether he had any investments or a pension, he assumed I meant ‘cryptocurrency’ as if this were not only a form of investment, but the only form of investment among his age group.
Kevin wisely declined to invest in something ‘his brain hasn’t fully digested yet’.
But many of his age-peers have poured money into bitcoin. Ireland is investing 92% more in crypto than Britain, France and Spain, according to new figures from personal finance app Plum.
The ability to buy bitcoin easily is even advertised as a feature on Revolut, which, for a fat fee, will help its target market of young customers buy something that plummeted 30% in value at one point this week.
Revolut customers who bought in at over $50,000 must be fuming. ‘Cryptocurrencies have no intrinsic value… Only invest in them if you’re prepared to lose all your money,’ warned Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey recently.
Apart from being essentially worthless, ‘crypto’, as all these currencies are known, is sold in questionable ways that offer no safeguards to investors.
Our investment industry, for all its flaws, has taken centuries to develop into one that is regulated. Advice has to be carefully worded and given in the best interest of the client and there’s some comeback for wronged investors. You are investing in real assets like companies, property or Government bonds.
Wednesday, May 19, 1.14pm: Bitcoin value $38,598.73
Bitcoin is just a bunch of numbers and letters on a computer with no intrinsic value and little usefulness to anyone except criminals like those who took down our health service.
People who buy bitcoin as an investment may subconsciously assume it has some of the safeguards built into conventional investments… and may also be shocked, as I was, by its volatility.
Wednesday, May 19, 2.14pm: Bitcoin value $31,926.37
The criminals who hacked the HSE last week demanded payment in bitcoin. When I started writing this piece, at 11 am on Wednesday each bitcoin cost $40,408.
By lunchtime, the price had fallen to $38,582…
An hour later it had dropped to $31,926.
Later in the afternoon, it rallied as buyers moved in and the price rose to $35,320 – still down 20% in 24 hours.
But another glance at the Bitcoin chart only a few seconds later saw it up again to €37,000.
Wednesday, May 19, 5.29pm. Bitcoin value: $37,594.24
God knows what the price will be by the time you actually read this article.
I have never seen anything so volatile. Bitcoin has nearly halved in value since its April peak of $66,000. Yet even at $36,000, it was still worth double what it was last December.
This sort of volatility is headspinning even when your money isn’t tied up in it. It must be truly sickening if your life savings are involved.
Celebrities who have previously said they own Bitcoin include Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, former boxer Mike Tyson and Game Of Thrones star Maisie Williams.
However, all expressed interest in the cryptocurrency long before the recent price run-up and may not be in negative territory during the recent crash, presuming they held onto the holdings they previously touted.
Dorsey said in 2019 that he spends several thousand a week on Bitcoin, Tyson was an early adopter in 2015, and Williams joined the Bitcoin train last November.
Bitcoin purchased before early February is still worth more than it cost to purchase.
However, any amateur enthusiasts who jumped on the trend at peak prices after following the celeb examples over the past two months would have suffered