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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Technology
Alex Hern

TechScape: I’m no longer making predictions about cryptocurrency. Here’s why

Amir Taaki, Bitcoin project manager, holding a Bitcoin in 2013.
The best way to make monkey, historically, is to do the opposite of what I say … Bitcoin in 2013. Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian

I’ve been writing about cryptocurrency for my entire career. In that time, one point I’ve always stuck to is simple: don’t listen to me for investment advice. Today, I want to quantify why.

Bitcoin was created in 2009, while I was in my first year at university. As an economics student – and massive nerd – it sat squarely at the intersection of my interests. By my final year of uni in 2011, the original cryptocurrency was experiencing its first boom and bust cycle. It rose from a low of $0.30 to a high of $32.34 that summer, before crashing back down to less than $3 when Mt. Gox, the original bitcoin exchange, was hacked. (This will become a theme.)

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