‘Magic Internet Money’ May be Too Volatile to Attain Gold Status

Back in early 2013, the website BitcoinTalk.org askedusers to select a slogan for the embryonic cryptocurrency. The winner was “Magic Internet Money,” with runners-up “In Crypto We Trust” and “You Asked for Change, We Gave You Coins.”

But it’s the tagline that came in eighth, “Digital Gold,” that has become synonymous with the dominate cryptocurrency. And that is turning out to be a quandary when it comes to achieving the goal of becoming the peer-to-peer electronic cash system outlined by its mysterious founder, Satoshi Nakamoto, in late 2008.

Bitcoin’s stratospheric price surge and dizzying volatility in the subsequent years ...