Yahoo Finance Live's Brian Sozzi, Julie Hyman, and Emily McCormick discuss the stock rebound for Tesla after founder Elon Musk sells $5 billion of his shares following a Twitter poll, while EV newcomer Rivian tops expectations in his IPO debut.
All the signs, however, were there. Like previous bubbles, people were basing their belief in the cryptocurrency on their emotions, not any intrinsic value. Then there was the FOMO element, which only compounded things. Essentially, bitcoin became an international fever. Random companies were “pivoting to blockchain” for no apparent reason other than that it seemed like a way to create buzz. But when the bubble bursts, FOMO turns into fear of losing, which makes for an especially rapid plunge.

Cryptocurrencies’ finite supply makes them inherently deflationary, more akin to gold and other precious metals — of which there are finite supplies — than fiat currencies that central banks can, in theory, produce unlimited supplies of.
Another institutional hit for bitcoin–which probably had the most sustained effect–was the SEC’s refusal to approve a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). This would be a path for more mainstream people in finance to dabble with blockchain; it would allow investors to dip their toes in bitcoin without owning the actual asset. Not only that, but it would make bitcoin available on the most prominent financial markets. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), however, has yet to allow such a fund to exist–mostly because it is unable to monitor crypto-transactions in order to avoid market manipulation.