“The 360” shows you diverse perspectives on the day’s top stories and debates.Coinbase, a platform used for buying and selling cryptocurrencies, became the first major cryptocurrency company to go public on the U.S. stock market last week. The listing marks a milestone for the cryptocurrency industry as it takes on an increasingly significant role in the mainstream economy.
Cryptocurrencies are, in the simplest terms, digital money. They can be used to buy things online in the same way a credit card might be used. But cryptocurrencies differ from traditional payment methods in important ways. They aren’t issued by a government and are decentralized, meaning data is shared across thousands of computers worldwide rather than a single network like a credit card database.
At the moment, opportunities to use cryptocurrencies to buy things in the real world, though growing, are still very limited. Most of the activity around cryptocurrencies has involved people investing in the currencies themselves, like a stock or a commodity. These types of investments have created enormous returns for early investors. Bitcoin, the most popular and well-known cryptocurrency, has skyrocketed in value over the past few years.
One area of debate among economists and investors is over how significant a force the cryptocurrency market will be in the broader investment landscape. Optimists say there’s little reason to believe the cryptocurrency boom will slow and could even accelerate as the public becomes more aware. Pessimists say the history of wild price fluctuations and uncertainty around practical applications will limit the number of investors who are willing to choose cryptocurrencies over stocks and commodities.
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