Bitcoin Nearing $20,000 With Record Trading Volume

One Bitcoin going for about US $19,563 as I write this… one Ether, the #2 most popular cryptocurrency network after Bitcoin, going for about US $613.75… all the crypto assets in the world currently valued around $641 Billion according to coincap.io market data…

…quite the consolation prize for a world torn apart by the pandemic.

Bitcoin trading near $20,000 a coin earlier today.

PayPal recently announced its users can buy, sell, and store Bitcoin, Ether, and Litecoin (another cryptocurrency) using its app — this news could be driving part of the recent market excitement.

But my total guess is that there’s more at play. The public has been beyond rattled by the events of this year. I still can’t personally decide if the pandemic is an apocalyptic black swan event fueling economic changes faster than any neckbeard prepper could have imagined a few years ago, or if it’s merely a very bad new illness that has been transformed into an apocalyptic black swan event by all the businesses going haywire over COVID… and all the media outlets pushing fear onto the public, and isolation…

…yet, either way, the end result psychologically is much the same: an Internet-connected, isolated public with money to burn but literally nowhere to go is left wondering — where now? What is safety? What is security in a world where nearly 270,000 Americans have died of a “novel coronavirus” in just 11 months? And how does the world pull itself up again, and at what cost — how many more bailouts, how many more business shutdowns and community lockdowns? And what does that do ultimately to faith in the dollar, which must presumably be inflated, increased in quantity that is, to support a future round of emergency stimulus packages.

Plus, the average member of the public has been touched this year by a level of inconvenience and memento mori — reminder of their own possible eventual death — that simply alters consumer behavior.

The consumer is more serious, more focused on his or her imminent survival. The frivolous things are out — no time for fun and games. Uncensorable hard money like Bitcoin, however, appears to be in. Based on the coincap.io data, these would appear to be record trading volumes, even eclipsing cryptocurrency’s prior 2017 highs.

Interesting times, to be sure.

Not financial advice; no warranties or guarantees provided.