The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[Titan V]

...Over and over again, Bitcoin's value has seen spectacular plunges only to recover the lost ground and rise to new heights. Bitcoin has seen at least three major Bitcoin "bubbles" over its seven-year life.

Each time, a huge price gain was followed by a spectacular crash, leading many people to declare that the currency had been nothing more than a bubble. Each time, the currency has defied critics, regaining the previous highs and then pushing still higher.

Today's Bitcoin price might represent a bubble, in retrospect. But it's past time to acknowledge that Bitcoin isn't only a bubble.

...

But here's the thing: people have been predicting Bitcoin's impending demise for years, and they've consistently been wrong. Even if Bitcoin were to lose 90 percent of its value in the coming weeks, it would still be worth around $800—a value many people dismissed as an absurd bubble four years ago. If it lost 99 percent of its value, it would be worth $80—a value that would have been considered absurdly high less than five years ago.

Blockchains are an important new technology, and cryptocurrencies are a fundamentally new asset class. Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, might be overvalued right now, but it might not be. Either way, it certainly isn't going to suffer an Enron-style collapse.

Bitcoin is hitting new highs—here’s why it might not be a bubble
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/11/its-time-to-admit-bitcoin-is-more-than-just-a-bubble/?amp=1

Disclosure: I do not own any bitcoin.