Crypto Is Going Mainstream, Which Means It’s Over
With each step Bitcoin takes toward more widespread acceptance, it loses some of what made it appealing in the first place.
The king is dead, long live the king.
Photographer: Milan Jaros/Bloomberg
Two big things have happened in the crypto world this month: a public validation and a semi-private snub. Both of them bode poorly for its future.
The official validation came in the form of the SEC approval of a Bitcoin ETF, which will make it easier for speculators to invest in Bitcoin. The slight came at this year’s World Economic Forum, which I attended, and where Bitcoin — or any cryptocurrency, really — was clearly on the outs. Last year crypto was everywhere in Davos. This year, the star of the show was AI. Crypto, like me, didn’t even know about all the really good parties, much less get an invitation.