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Ask HN: What is behind the cryptocurrency boom this year?

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1–10 of 10 posts

Re: Ask HN: What is behind the cryptocurrency boom this year?

#3
post #2

Unbridled speculation and compound interest.

That's a pretty lazy answer. Why not last year, or the years before? Bitcoin is nearly 10 years old and monetary policy has been "easy" that whole time (in the US and Europe). Why is it taking off this year in particular? What is the deal with the slew of ICOs? I am not sure what you mean by compound interest. Are you trying to make a pun, e.g. compound hype or referring to financial interest rates?

Re: Ask HN: What is behind the cryptocurrency boom this year?

#9
post #7

The magnitude of the boom is likely a speculative bubble. The reason there is a boom of any size is that many more people are working on blockchain applications now.

I keep hearing youtube ads for apps that let you speculate on cryptocurrencies

Re: Ask HN: What is behind the cryptocurrency boom this year?

#10
post #6

Technology. More specifically, new "public ledger" or "blockchain" technology inspired by Satoshi's implementation of bitcoin. This is what it looks like when a new important field of technology comes into being.

This "new" technology is 10 years old. Why is it catching on now?