What Bitcoin's Madness Means For Wall Street
It’s not an existential threat to the banking system, but a spur toward a post-Covid digital payments future.
Taking a page from the gold rush.
Photographer: Ulrich Baumgarten/Getty Images
Bitcoin’s true believers are taking a victory lap after the cryptocurrency’s fresh all-time high of almost $20,000. “Onward and upward we go to the moon!” tweeted Tyler Winklevoss. “All governments, [financial services] and corporations will soon be mining Bitcoin to guarantee their own supply,” echoed Bitcoin advocate Charlie Shrem. That appears to be true of the Venezuelan army, at least.
But is this new record going to convert an often-skeptical financial sector, at least beyond hedge funds and strategists who see Bitcoin as a Covid-19 safe haven? Not everyone is convinced.