Vast wealth has been created in cryptocurrencies, which globally now have a value of nearly $2t, according to CoinMarketCap. However, crypto wealth might be harder to spend in some key ways than gains from rising stock or house prices, making its impact on overall economic activity more difficult to predict. But it’s time to start contemplating how that wealth filters through the rest of the economy.
Whether or not you think it is really money, we are now talking about real money. Crypto is starting to matter even to people who have never bought a cent of digital tokens. Investors and economic observers should be watching as closely as they do a splashy TV commercial.