Lionel Laurent, Columnist

Bitcoin and the Fear of Missing Out

The bubble has gone beyond the rational, or chartable.

November 29, 2017 at 11:30 AM UTC

Lionel Laurent is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist writing about the future of money and the future of Europe. Previously, he was a reporter for Reuters and Forbes.

Bitcoins As Cryptocurrency Halts Decline After Drubbing on China's Offerings Ban — Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

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Everyone, from the Uber driver to the hedge-fund manager, appears to be afraid of missing out on the Bitcoin bubble.

That's about the only real takeaway we have from the latest symbolic milestone for the granddaddy of cryptocurrencies. Its price in dollars has multiplied ten-fold this year -- without any of its flaws as a method of payment being fixed convincingly. Transactions are still costly and slow.