Finance & economics | The disaster scenario
What if bitcoin went to zero?
A thought experiment helps uncover the links between crypto and mainstream finance
THE RECENT expansion of the crypto-universe is a thing of wonder. Only a year ago there were about 6,000 currencies listed on CoinMarketCap, a website. Today there are 11,145. Their combined market capitalisation has exploded from $330bn to $1.6trn today—roughly equivalent to the nominal GDP of Canada. More than 100m unique digital wallets hold them, about three times the number in 2018.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline "The disaster scenario"
From the August 5th 2021 edition
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