Discussions over whether cryptocurrencies are a bubble or not have been going for quite some time. Whatever your point of view might be, a lot of people are making money in the interim.

I was at a lunch at La Perla a week or so ago and, as always, the topic of Bitcoin came up. A friend who works in finance made a very good point – whether you understand it or believe it or not doesn’t make a difference.

He said he really doesn’t care and has made tens of thousands of rands in the last few weeks. He uses the local Luno app to trade Bitcoin for any amount that he is comfortable with.

He gets in and gets out whenever he wants. He’s not betting the house and he’s making quick gains. It’s quite hard to argue with that kind of strategy.

Luno also allows users to trade Ethereum, which is fast emulating Bitcoin’s success.

I found this on Quartz this morning:

The price ether, the digital token used on the ethereum blockchain set a new record high in trading today, at just under $415. It has been a good year for the cryptocurrency, which has appreciated by a cool 5,000% (or so) since January, when it was trading at $8. So far today, the cryptocurrency has gained more than 8%.

All the ether in circulation is now worth $39 billion, compared with bitcoin’s $137 billion. The market value of all cryptocurrencies in circulation, meanwhile, has just passed the quarter-of-a-trillion mark, according to data provider CoinMarketCap.

And here’s your obligatory ‘J-curve’:

Interesting.

I’m not going to lie, I’ve been dabbling a bit with Bitcoin (via Luno) and this morning I converted my holdings into Ethereum.

I think I’ll ride this hype for a bit, and then maybe convert back to Bitcoin or hard cash.

We’ll see.

[source:quartz]