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An Everyman's Guide To Understanding Cryptocurrencies
Recently, that asset was bitcoin (BTC). The price of BTC in dollars rose from $454 on May 23 to $590 on June 6th.
When an asset doubles in a matter of a few months, it tends to attract attention. The cryptocurrency Ether (part of the Ethereum platform) doubled from around $7 in April to roughly $14 in early June.
Are these cryptocurrencies mere fads? Or are they potentially game-changing alternatives to the conventional currencies such as the U.S. dollar, Chinese RMB, Japanese yen or European Union euro?
There's no lack of skeptics and critics of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. For example, "National currencies aren't as Centralized, and Bitcoin isn't as Decentralized, as you think." (Source)
There are plenty of defenders of cryptocurrencies as well, for example this response to the article above.
The controversy is understandable; bitcoin has had a difficult adolescence. After soaring from $15 in early 2013 to over $1,000 in December 2013, the cryptocurrency crashed to $215 in early 2015 in the wake of the bankruptcy of a major exchange (Mt. Gox) that cost bitcoin investors $470 million in losses.