The cryptocurrency bubble, blockchain and beyond

Abstract

This paper intends to shed light into the blockchain technology in general and the so-called cryptocurrency bubble in particular. After presenting the emergence of the blockchain technology in the context of the historical evolution of finance, the paper first discusses the general characteristics of blockchain as a foundational technology. The paper then focuses briefly on the bubbles in world history and discusses why speculations in cryptocurrency markets in general and bitcoin in particular are essentially different from traditional bubbles such as the “dot.com” bubble on the one hand and from ponzi schemes on the other while at the same time one can see similarities with previous bubbles.