Over the past year, it’s been hard to scroll through business news without reading think-pieces about cryptocurrency, how to invest in it, and whether you’d be a fool to do so.
This elevated interest, prompted by the potential approval of the United States’ first spot crypto exchange-traded fund, is but the latest in a long string of bear and bull markets that have characterized the crypto space over the past 15 years.
Over that timeframe, cryptocurrencies have grown from a novelty, best encapsulated by the 2010 sale of two pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoins, to an asset class vying to become the next major industrial sector, with a US$1.62 trillion market capitalization as of Dec. 12.
With global crypto investors growing by more than 100x since 2016 to more than 500 million, and showing no signs of letting up, newcomers should know the basics before allocating their first dollar.
