⸺ Obituary · January 12, 2021 ⸺
“The Bitcoin Dream Is Dead”
— Medium, James Surowiecki
“Bitcoin’s recent 25% plunge illustrates why it will never be a true currency… The fact that Bitcoin has no intrinsic value (the way a stock or bond does) doesn’t mean it’s headed to zero. It just means that Bitcoin has become totally untethered from its original purpose. What was supposed to be a way to revolutionize people’s everyday financial lives is now mostly a way for people to get rich quick (or lose their shirts) or, in an ideal scenario, for people to protect their wealth against inflation. Bitcoin began as a cryptocurrency. It has ended as a cryptoasset.”
Price at death
$34,060
Today
$73,484
Resurrection
×2.2
On 2021-01-12, James Surowiecki (Journalist) declared Bitcoin dead via Medium. Bitcoin was trading at ~$34,060 at the time. The call joins the growing canon of premature obituaries.
The declaration was catalogued on January 12, 2021, when one Bitcoin traded for approximately $34,060. Since then, Bitcoin has appreciated by 2.2× relative to the price on the day Medium pronounced it finished.