The endless crypto hype

The other day, packaged with a grocery order, I received a sales flyer for some Bitcoin exchange. This is a new one because, as far as I know, Bitcoin advertising has not reached the level of inserting pamphlets into groceries till now. The sales flyer had illustrations (AI-generated, appropriately) of a young man running to catch a bus in 2050 while thinking wistfully, "Kash, papa ne 2024 me Bitcoin liya hota." The reverse side of the pamphlet has a graph of Bitcoin prices along with the message, "Bitcoin prices have surged after every Bitcoin halving." As financial advertising goes, it does not get any simpler than this. However, as my readers understand, the reality of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is far more complicated and murky than this marketing material suggests. The promised surges in value are enticing, but crypto's volatile na