Elaine Ou & Julie Verhage, Columnists

An Expert's Guide to Navigating the World of Bitcoin

A Q&A between Julie Verhage and Elaine Ou on crypto-assets and the resources involved in bitcoin mining.

No one's in charge.

Photographer: Dan Kitwood

Elaine Ou, a blockchain engineer and Bloomberg View columnist, answered questions about cryptocurrencies from Bloomberg Terminal customers in a TOPLive chat on Tuesday with Julie Verhage, who covers markets for Bloomberg News. Since then, bitcoin has skyrocketed to new heights and Cboe Global Markets Inc. plans to launch bitcoin futures trading on Sunday. Here's a lightly edited transcript.

Verhage: Bitcoin and other crypto-assets have had crazy runs this year. As I type this, bitcoin is closing in on $12,000 after starting the year around $1,000.