The Cryptic Crypto-World

As many exciting events do, this one started with boredom – pandemic, accompanying lockdowns, and stay-at-home culture. A few school friends fooled around on their WhatsApp group. One of them boasted of making considerable profits in cryptocurrency trade. A few others decided to explore this new asset class. They made money too. Later, much to their consternation, they realised how this seemingly-simple world of virtual currencies was actually bizarre and cryptic. They already know that the trade was legal in India. One can exchange a cryptocurrency for more of the same, or with similar ones – as with regular currencies like a rupee for a rupee, or a rupee for a dollar – and also across assets, like rupee for gold or stocks. This implies that a bitcoin, which is a crypto asset, can buy rupees, dollars, and gold. For the uninitiated, a cryptocurrency is a digital means...