Its use as a monetary system is still crypto’s most lucrative feature. It allows users to send cryptocurrencies between parties in exchange for goods and services provided. Because cryptocurrencies are not controlled by any central authority, it has unique advantages. There are usually little to no processing fees. There is less government control and regulation. This means that cryptocurrencies are portable, inflation-resistant, and transparent in their transaction history.
We set the stage for our formal econometric analysis by providing some graphical evidence. For example, in Figure 1, we see a close mapping of the prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum with their respective computing power values. Moreover, in Figure 2, we observe an even stronger mapping of the prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum with their respective network values. Interestingly, these graphs also show that when prices significantly exceed the trend in computing power or network (as was the case in late 2017), prices eventually fall and trace the trend in fundamentals. The convergence of prices to the trend with fundamentals suggests that fundamentals are the ultimate, long-run determinants of prices.

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SAN DIEGO (AP) — A Los Angeles man pleaded guilty Wednesday to participating in what prosecutors called a “textbook Ponzi scheme” that defrauded cryptocurrency investors worldwide of more than $2 billion.