Everything You Need to Know About What’s Next for the Year in Crypto

In 2017, Bitcoin led a motley pack of cryptocurrencies in one of the great booms in market history, soaring 1,400 percent. In 2018, it’s led an epic bust that rivals the dot-com era stock market collapse. As the dust settles, investors and regulators find themselves still grappling with questions first raised when Bitcoin broke into public consciousness five years ago, including: What exactly is it? And where do cryptocurrencies fit into the future of money?

You mean, why did legendary investor Warren Buffett call it "rat poison squared”? There’s a long list of reasons. Besides the massive price swings, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been connected with scams, money laundering, tax evasion, cyberthefts, excessive speculation and more. Risks like these may have been easier for regulators to overlook when Bitcoin and its peers sat on the far fringes of finance, but they are moving ever closer to the mainstream. The stakes got much higher when mom-and-pop investors piled in. Lenders including JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup have barred customers from using their credit cards to buy cryptocurrencies to avoid the risk associated with these transactions.