In the middle of a global pandemic, and the peculiar detachment of the financial markets from the economy, another oddity occurred: a sudden explosion in cryptocurrency investment. In 2020 and into 2021, trading volumes hit record daily highs and Bitcoin quadrupled as new investors flooded into the market. According to a recent study from Cornerstone Advisors, 15 percent of Americans now own cryptocurrency, half of whom invested for the first time last year.
Are digital coins the new gold bar? Or the next bubble? And is it wise to invest in cryptocurrency if you aren’t both financially and digitally literate? Which raises a bigger question: Are we on a path to an even greater divide, in which the rich and tech-savvy get richer and the poor and less educated are left behind? Likely we are, but not for the reasons you might think.
