A few years back Bitcoin was frowned upon because it seemed highly speculative, useless and complicated for most people. Add to that the scam factor, the criminal scandals and the government FUD and you can understand why the masses stayed away. Today, those very people that kept their distance have come back for the same reason they once stayed away.
Speculation has always been the main drive for most people got into cryptocurrencis. They were ofcourse the visionaries, the technology enthusiasts and the right out geeks, but, for the most part, Bitcoin has attracted people that wanted to hide their money or straight out gamblers. I know quite a few people in the scene since the early days and I can easily say that 9/10 where heavy gamblers and or traders that got mesmerized by the insane gains.
Just a few months ago a new wave of crypto enthusiasts arrived. This time it involved the average Joe and institutional investors. As we all have seen, they have been buying across the board almost anything. At first it seemed random but as the volumers started climbing one odd thing started to emerge. People were not buying because of fundamentals or technicals. They were (and still are) buying coins that are... "cheap".
For the old timers in here this seems laughable. I was surprised as well. I often consider that I take into consideration the human stupidity factor but I never fathomed that people would be THAT stupid. Then I started asking myself. Are they really that silly? Weren't the same old timers doing the same thing with Doge and the colour coins back in the day while later on whales trashed them by parking those gains in Bitcoin?
Surprisingly, the pattern is identical. People buy coins with huge circulations and low market cap because they appear "cheap" and they want to see a return much like Bitcoin. I have seen so many people stating that Ripple is cheap at $1 or $2 and with a few thousand in their wallets they can have crazy returns when it reaches....1,000 or 10,000 much like Bitcoin. They forget that for Ripple to reach 1000 the entire planet's economy needs to shift into Ripple for the next century or so.
I pointed repeatedly how important are economics classes but really at this point we are dealing with downright mania and plain euphoria. There are useless coins with billions in valuations and the only reason all this money is coming is because people want to get rich. None of the new people I encountered knows what the coin does or is able to explain it in simple words. The only response I got was that it was "cheap" and if it's going to "pump".
And these people did make money. A lot of money. We had Bitcoin the magical money maker give us crazy returns over a market cap of 10 billion and later 50 billion but these guys have taken coins from 1 satoshi and made millions in a matter of months. There are plenty that are holding and will get REKT at some point. Nonetheless, one thing is for sure. The Bitcoin idea will be challenged heavily in 2018 when all these alt coins, with fundamentals or not start driving their own network effect. Add to this the new projects like Ethereum that really have good fundamentals and one can see how BTC will come to bleed slowly over the long run until it is displaced from its throne.
Bitcoin is definitely in a bubble but the rest of cryptocurrencies seem that they are just starting to explode. Ripple, the most centralised coin and a true rival to the idea of Bitcoin is second in market cap. This useless coin (so far) makes us question what is crypto all about and if people care about fundamentals or ideologies when money is involved. We have all started sailing in the same boat and what matters in this race will shine through as time goes by. No doubt. Nonetheless, with the banking factor gaining traction on Ripple, it has been suggested that it can be the actual FED-coin that came to enter the space and control the new blockchain revolution.
The average Joe has Ripple while the average the pioneer has Bitcoin. The average Joe wants somebody else to hold their keys and manage their money because the average Joe is as always lazy and devoid of responsibility. Times are a changin' but lets not rule out an idiocracy black swan that can shake the crypto world. It only takes one domino at this point to fall out of place and all will come down faster that it climbed up.