Buying Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies directly can be fraught. Exchange-traded funds take away some risks, but increase others. Here’s what you need to know.
It’s all legal tender.
Steven Puetzer/The Image Bank via Getty Images
Decentralized finance makes it easier for virtually anyone to take advantage of financial markets without the need for a bank, but there are new risks as well.
Stablecoins promise more stability than other cryptocurrencies.
DenBoma/iStock via Getty Images
Chinese bitcoin mining could consume as much energy as the whole of the UK by 2024.
Children in a classroom in Gondar in the Amhara Region. Ethiopia has signed a deal to register 5 million school children using blockchain.
Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images
Bitcoin has been widely criticised for its enormous energy footprint. A new cryptocurrency may solve that problem, but might bring some unintended consequences.
Financial bubbles are frequently depicted as manias.
Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Until the late 1800s, moments of widespread high-risk financial gambling weren’t considered manias but the results of individual actors, who bore responsibility for the disastrous results.