That lack of widespread adoption, plus crypto’s volatility, limits its use as a currency, says Roger Aliaga-Díaz, principal and senior economist with Vanguard Investment Strategy Group.
But while it’s based on sound, democratic principles, cryptocurrency remains a technological and practical work in progress. For the foreseeable future, nation-states’ near-monopoly on currency production and monetary policy appears secure.

But to understand the dynamic that led to this year’s depressing year for crypto, we actually should start a few years before 2018. In bitcoin’s early days, Mt. Gox was the go-to service for handling transactions. Then, in 2014, it halted transactions and slowly copped to a crypto-hack to the tune of $473 million, the biggest hack of its kind at the time, and it gave many people pause. But it was still early enough for people to believe that the blockchain system was still getting all the technical kinks out.
Regulation in any financial arena can be a complex minefield, and cryptocurrency is no exception. Allow Coin Rivet to steer you through the murky waters of what it all means. It’s the role of the regulators to create the rules and guidelines – but it’s our job to make sense of it for you…