Tokens are built on an existing blockchain but are considered to be programmable assets that enable the formulation and execution of unique smart contracts. Outside of the blockchain network, these contracts can be used to establish ownership of assets. Tokens can be used to represent units of value such as money, coins, digital assets and electricity, and can also be sent and received.
But whether that growth is sustainable, and what it means long-term, is still in question. “This crypto, blockchain technology, the public interest in it right now is being driven by a kind of speculative fever,” says Dr. Richard Smith, executive director of the Foundation for the Study of Cycles, a nonprofit organization dedicated to studying recurring patterns throughout economies and cultures.

WASHINGTON (AP) — With inflation at its highest point in three decades, the Federal Reserve is set this week to begin winding down the extraordinary aid it has given the economy since the pandemic recession struck early last year, a process that could prove to be a risky balancing act.
Home / Markets / Cryptocurrency / Bitcoin appears to crash 87% in a flash on Binance’s US venue Bitcoin appears to crash 87% in a flash on Binance’s US venue Premium Volume on the exchange in that minute was 592.8 Bitcoins, which are worth just shy of $40 million at current prevailing prices. (REUTERS) 1 min read . Updated: 21 Oct 2021, 09:54 PM IST Bloomberg The price of Bitcoin appeared to rapidly — and only temporarily — plunge about 87% on Binance’s U.S. exchange Thursday morning, sinking to as low as $8,200 from around $65,000. The price did nothing like that on other venues, and on Binance the level almost immediately snapped back to where it had been. The plunge occurred at 7:34 a.m. New York time, according to Binance’s website. Volume on the exchange in that minute was 592.8 Bitcoins, which are worth just shy of $40 million at current prevailing prices. Mistakes like this happen throughout finance when, for instance, traders mess up details of their intended trades, entering the wrong price or order size. An erroneously large trade, as one example, can overwhelm an exchange’s order book, leading to a quick and massive decline. The entire U.S. stock market famously flash crashed back in May 2010, though equities have mostly avoided trouble since that era. This is the latest in a string of recent high-profile trading problems in crypto. Synthetify, a new decentralized exchange, was forced to shut down for a while earlier this month shortly after its debut because of bad data provided by the Pyth Network, a price feed backed by some of the world’s most well-known trading and exchange firms. Pyth malfunctioned another time in September, erroneously making it appear that Bitcoin had crashed 90%.