CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency or digital currency, is a type of money that is entirely virtual. Investors can purchase bitcoins online with their own money.
Investing in the currency became popular last spring when its value grew after Elon Musk spoke about it.
“It reached the peak of over 64,000 dollars back in April. So that created some hype, everybody was talking about it and everybody was talking about ‘should I buy one and make more money?’,” says Dr. Jim Lee, professor of economics at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
Experts say the risk with investing in bitcoin is the fluctuation of it value. Financial Advisor Jeff Evans says, “Cryptocurrency is highly volatile, which means the value can swing wildly up or down in very short periods of time.”
Bitcoin is not currently regulated by the government, which also increases its risk.
Dr. Lee says “this is definitely not a vehicle for retirement because you really don’t know what your bitcoin will be worth by the end of the day.”
Experts say investing in stocks can be a safer option for potential investors because their value tend to change less dramatically than bitcoin.
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