Go to any uptown cafe or bar in Kingston and young people are extolling the virtues of crypto and Bitcoin. 

They are oh so keen to tell you how these digital currencies can change the fortunes of Jamaica.

We are not only living in a material world but also a digital age.

Ask them then how can one measure crypto’s value, then they start reaching for their lattes. 

This week Bitcoin fell as low as $60,000, its lowest since September 2024. Bitcoin has now dropped by 32 per cent within the last year.

Bitcoin is a digital currency not a fiat currency. Last year it hit an all time high of US$ 122,200 with many of Gen Y proclaiming it as the saviour of the world.

US President Donald Trump is the biggest champion of cryptocurrency and hailed the U.S. as the “ crypto capital of the planet.”

With the US dollar dropping, Bitcoin and other cryptos are following suit as they are seen as speculative assets.

While cryptos take a beating, the U.S. stock market is surging with the Dow Jones Industrial Average topping 50,000 on Friday.

Now Bitcoin has fallen out of the global top 10 assets by market capitalisation. Bitcoin now has a market capitalisation of around US$1.57 trillion.

Investor confidence has fallen in Bitcoin once seen as “digital gold”. 

In this new world order and with the Dollar coming under pressure, investors are second guessing crypto-currency’s strength and robustness in the face of macroeconomic uncertainties.

“Those who bet too big, borrowed too much or assumed prices only go up are now finding out the hard way what real market volatility and risk management look like, “ said Joshua Chu of the Hong Kong Web3 Association.

Listen to the truest assessment of Bitcoin and crypto by none other than Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway 

“If the people in this room owned all the farmland in the United States and you offered me a 1 per cent interest in it and you said you would pay our Group a bargain price of US$25 billion, I would write you a cheque this afternoon.

“Now if you told me you own all the Bitcoin in the world and you offered it to me for US$25, I wouldn’t take it because what would I do with it? I have to sell it back to you one way or the other. It isn’t going to do anything. The apartments are going to produce rental income and the farms are going to produce food.

“If I get all the Bitcoin and I’m trying to get rid of it, people will say why should I buy Bitcoin from you, why don’t you call it Buffett  Coin, do something with it but I’m not going to give you something for it!”

That explains the difference between productive assets and something that depends on the next guy paying you more than the last guy got it for.

True assets must deliver something tangible over time.