An undertaking of great advantage

I've largely ignored Bitcoin in this blog, for a variety of reasons.  Although the Blockchain technology that lies behind cryptocurrencies seems likely to be of lasting importance, it's far from certain that the cryptocurrencies themselves, at least as we presently know them, will last.  A number of central banks, including the Bank of Canada, are musing about launching cryptos of their own.  It's likely that serious people, as opposed to money launderers or speculators, would prefer their Blockchain-driven currency to be sponsored by a central bank rather than by the Winklevoss brothers*.

Another reason I've written very little about Bitcoin is that although it shows all of the classic signs of a bubble, it's always very difficult to predict when the air will come rushing out.  Still, it's hard not to laugh when you see the struggling beverage maker Long Island Iced Tea change its name to Long Blockchain, as happened last week, and immediately see a surge in its stock price.  Maybe I should change the name of the blog: "Let me say this about Blockchain" has a nice ring to it.

I think I am on solid ground if I say that most of the latecomers to the Bitcoin frenzy, the kind of folks remortgaging their homes to get a piece of the action, haven't the faintest idea what it's about or how it works.  Nothing new there, either:  one of the most famous scams at the height of the South Sea Bubble of 1720 involved "a company for carrying on an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is".  Bitcoin has certainly brought great advantage to early investors; later ones, I'm guessing, not so much.  

* I may be the only person in the world who came out of "The Social Network" feeling that the "Winklevi" looked a whole lot more honourable than a lot of the other players, so I'm certainly not suggesting there's anything wrong with their profiting from Bitcoin.