The crypto challenge

For years, the world has been engulfed in accelerating debates full of fear and fascination about Bitcoin, altcoins, and blockchain economies. Just look at January 2018, which brought threats and announcements of state regulation over cryptocurrency in some jurisdictions, bans of exchanges, rumors of impending restrictions alongside news pointing to the opposite, reporting on both startups and legacy companies that are venturing into initial coin offerings (ICOs), and speculation on the intentions of governments seeking to create their own blockchain economies, crypto-coins, or sovereign digital currencies. (See glossary for an explanation of these cryptic terms). A peculiar noise this past month emanated from the cryptocurrency trade. It is so replete with extreme volatility that January seemed to be accompanied at every turn by warnings that the cryptocurrency skies were falling and that the Bitcoin crash had arrived, or was just around the corner. This clutter of chatter was aided by,