If Crypto Crashes Tomorrow, It’s No Big Deal. In Five Years, It Might Be.

If Crypto Crashes Tomorrow, It’s No Big Deal. In Five Years, It Might Be.

“Have fun being poor!”

That’s the classic retort to people skeptical about surging cryptocurrencies from those who got in early on the speculative frenzy. It implies, of course, that those early buyers consider themselves rich. But are they really? One way to answer that question is what would happen if their newfound wealth went “poof,” aside from sparking lots of schadenfreude that is.

The price of bitcoin—the most established of the private, digital currencies — has risen about 260% over the past six months, but that is nothing compared with some other entrants. Ether, which is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, rose about 660% during that time. And dogecoin, which was started as a joke, rose about 21,000%.