Everyone has heard about bitcoin by now, especially its recent meltdown. After hitting a record high of $67,000 in November of 2021, the currency has lost two-thirds of its value. Other currencies, like ripple and ethereum, have experienced similar awful results.
But bitcoin’s price has risen for the past two months consecutively—the first time that’s happened since its meteoric rise. Other cryptocurrencies have seen similar increases, too. This recent rise in price, as well as possible regulatory moves in the near future, have put the spotlight back onto the virtual currency.
But to many investors, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies remain a mystery.
Only 20 percent have ever owned it, according to a nationally representative survey of 3,208 adults conducted by Consumer Reports from June to July 2022. At least 1 in 5 say they don’t know whether their friends or family own crypto, whether they’d use crypto in different ways, or how crypto firms should be regulated.
So what exactly is bitcoin, and is it something you should think about as an investment?
