⸺ Obituary · July 15, 2019 ⸺
“Bitcoin Buyers Are Only Fooling Themselves Again”
— MarketWatch, Gary Smith
“Who let the fools out? The only plausible explanation was an article written as an April Fool’s joke reporting that the SEC had held an emergency meeting over the weekend and voted to approve two bitcoin-based exchange traded funds (ETFs). For true fools, it hardly mattered what sparked the rally. As long as prices are going up, fools will buy in hopes of selling to greater fools. At some point, the supply of greater fools will dry up and bitcoin’s second bubble will end just like the first.”
Price at death
$10,842
Today
$73,594
Resurrection
×6.8
On 2019-07-15, Gary Smith (Professor, Pomona College) declared Bitcoin dead via MarketWatch. Bitcoin was trading at ~$10,842 at the time. The call joins the growing canon of premature obituaries.
The declaration was catalogued on July 15, 2019, when one Bitcoin traded for approximately $10,842. Since then, Bitcoin has appreciated by 6.8× relative to the price on the day MarketWatch pronounced it finished.