There are few markets in the world that can go as haywire as those for cryptocurrencies, but the veteran traders who buy and sell them have become desensitized. KevinTDugan reports
Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo: Getty After a wild year that minted the most recent class of crypto nouveau riche, the price of bitcoin cratered to less than half of its November peak of $68,990 during a single weekend in January — a wipeout that sent just about every other digital token into the red, destroying with it more than $130 billion in 24 hours.
The always-extreme and always-on nature of the crypto markets has numbed the people who’ve made it their job to navigate the bubbles, scams, and randomness that have made these markets such a hostile environment. Take a look on Twitter or on Discord servers and you’ll still see the relentless optimism of the blockchain true believers, but now there are more memes about having to get a job working at McDonald’s, or posts detailing how someone lost everything they had.
Massive collapses aren’t new to markets, and the memories of the last financial crises are still fresh in the minds of some who’ve invested into digital currencies. “I remember sitting in my law office in March [2008], and that’s when Bear Stearns went under. I remember looking at Google Finance, and it’s down 50 percent, and my jaw hit the floor,” said Stefan Coolican, a former investment banker who’s now the chief financial officer at Toronto hedge fund Ether Capital.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Analysis: New discord between Ukraine and US plays right into Putin's hands'New signs of a fracture between the US and Ukraine over the imminence of a possible Russian invasion could seriously undermine President Joe Biden's muscular front against Vladimir Putin in their escalating standoff' | Analysis by Stephen Collinson
Read more »
Cook County man charged after police find him with blood on hands, clothesWhen police arrived on scene, officers encountered Lopez, who had blood on his hands and clothes.
Read more »
Warren Calls for Increased Funding for the IRS, Which Has Been Gutted by GOPElizabeth Warren is calling for more funding for the IRS, after the commissioner said last year that it has had its budget cut by 22% since 2010 thanks to corporate lobbyists and anti-tax extremists.
Read more »
OpenSea’s Week From HellPutting the blame for opensea’s woes on “the nature of the blockchain” is a cheap way of avoiding responsibility. Opinion by lil_smush
Read more »
Cook County man charged after police find him with blood on hands, clothesWhen police arrived on scene, officers encountered Lopez, who had blood on his hands and clothes.
Read more »
Where is Peng Shuai? Australian Open T-shirts grab attentionThis activist will help hand out 1,000 of the “Where is Peng Shuai?” shirts to spectators attending the women’s final between No. 1-ranked Ash Barty of Australia and Danielle Collins of the U.S.
Read more »