The bitcoin bubble will likely burst, and here’s why - The Boston Globe

Final paragraphs from a timely bitcoin reality check

"Bitcoin also suffers from a serious design flaw. The “mining” operations are now using so much computing time that the resulting electricity use (and carbon emissions) amount to significant social costs. While such design flaws are probably correctable, the very act of tampering with bitcoin could kill the confidence of its users.

Why, then, did bitcoin soar in value this past year? Why did tulip prices soar in Holland in 1636 only to plummet the next year? Why did shares in South Sea Company soar in London in 1720 before collapsing? Why did Pets.com launch at $14 a share in the dot-com bubble in 2000, only to collapse to 14 cents soon afterward? And why, perhaps, did the Dow rise by 25 percent this past year? The most likely answer is that the deep human desire for quick and easy wealth all too often ends as quick and easy despair."

The bitcoin bubble will likely burst, and here’s why - The Boston Globe