Why The World Must Pay Heed To The 'Crypto Wave'?

Prolonged ignorance could result in a sudden shock for the global economy

- S Vijaykrishnan

Over the years, crypto currencies have evolved into a massive ecosystem of their own. Most prominent among these crypto currencies is Bitcoin that is a beast of its own and commands a loyal investor base.

Says Rajesh Dhuddu, Senior Vice President (Market Development), Quatrro Global Services Pvt Ltd, “With a valuation of $70 billion, Bitcoins cannot be ignored as a temporary blip. Having said that, crypto currencies, unlike gold, land and securities, will take some time for investors to realise that Bitcoins are a mainstream asset class.

Over the past eight months, Bitcoin’s value has surged by over five times. On September 15 (at the time of writing, it had already fallen to $3500 after having crossed $5000 merely 13 days earlier). Still, it is a huge rise from $1,000 at the start of 2017. By the time this article is being read, it may well have charted a new high or fallen again. On a year-on-year basis the contrast is starker, considering that one Bitcoin was valued at $600 a year ago in July-August 2016.

Yes, sceptics may be quick to say that the above trends are just a sudden spurt and may not be entirely comparable with conventional currency systems. True, given that Cryptocurrency trading began on a serious note only in 2013, conventional currency systems have a longer history.

However, if we compare the growth between paper currencies, the trends observed in the latter are startling. While total daily trading volumes in paper currencies have grown from a little above $1 trillion in 1998 to about $5 trillion currently (5x growth in 19 years), trading volumes in crypto currencies have grown from $1 billion in April 2017 to $5.8 billion (6x growth in just 4 months).

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