A new wave of online speculation is erupting around crypto-currencies. If you’re keeping up with financial news, you’ve undoubtedly run across a mention or two of Bitcoin. But have you heard of Muse or Ether? Digital currencies are proliferating, and investors are making ever riskier bets on their success. Despite low volume and high volatility, so called “alt-coin” traders are attempting to get rich quickly. The Financial Times writes that at current rates of return, investors could be dollar millionaires by Thursday.
Most organisations have their share of IT workers who slip under the radar. But what is that quiet tech guy really up to when he should be fixing the server?
He might be pursuing a new career, speculating in crypto currencies. In virtual terms at least, he could soon be earning 20 times his annual salary as he joins the latest online investing craze that has shades of dotcom exuberance.
Using digital money loaned on an online exchange, IT staff at mainly financial services companies are betting on “alt-coins” during working hours.
An investment of just a few thousand dollars a month ago in a newly fashionable currency called Muse is now worth close to $500,000. Last week alone the price rose 278 per cent. At the current trajectory, the IT guy will be a dollar-millionaire by Thursday.
Except these are not real-world dollars. This is virtual money, one of the many variants on bitcoin — the original crypto currency that has been around for more than eight years. But there is a speculative frenzy for a new line of investment in the crypto market through initial coin offerings (ICOs).
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