Financial Briefs

Thinking about Bitcoin? Could be a good time to hop on, right? Wrong! Usually, by the time the average investor jumps on a gaudy, freewheeling bandwagon, it's too late. The price spike has already occurred. If the investment is a fad, a sickening plummet may well await you.

Bitcoin blasted to a record high at rocket speed, hitting $19,783 on December 17, 2017, before plunging 25% in the next 10 days. The crypto-currency may yet be destined for greatness over the long-term, but its supersonic ascent and subsequent nosedive look much like other notorious investment fads.

Investing in Bitcoin makes little sense considering that it is one of many crypto-currencies being mined on the Internet. The value of a crypto currency is set by supply and demand and supply is set by a software program that's not tied to a sovereign state. Transactions are easily hidden from tax authorities. Ultimately, crypto-currencies compete with sovereign nations, which is why some governments are starting to move to regulate them. In the time this was written, not only had the price of Bitcoin plunged 25%, but South Korea became the first nation to ban all anonymous crypto currencies and regulate the rest.