New York Times Claims: Pandemic Boredom Leads to Crypto Bubbles

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Erin Griffith, the technology writer for the New York Times, claimed last week that the rise of Bitcoin’s price, the record prices being offered for American Football trading cards and the $69 million price offered for a Beeple artwork which sold as an NFT (Non Fungible Token) were all connected manias.

The connection in between them were people that were simply bored out of their mind as Americans are seeing the end of the Covid-19 tunnel, and are screaming from the top of their lungs: are we there yet?

A journey you won’t forget

Olivia Addams currently has a pophit in several European countries shouting:

Are we there yet? Not yet, But i Bet Its a journey you won’t forget.

According to many analysts, that is also what the stocks, crypto and NFT markets are experiencing. People are amazed at valuations, analysts shout bubble, but more and more of us jump on board. Truly a journey we won’t forget.

Although many of us have lost our jobs, another great number of people are being told to work from home and end up having more time than ever to watch Netflix, buy stocks and crypto or be part of a growing hype surrounding NFTs.

Who doesn’t like Bitcoin?@EdVanDerWalt takes a closer look at what the skeptics say pic.twitter.com/YGRsmBkeGb

— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) March 19, 2021

In fact, it’s not so much that all these people are wanting to make money with these investments, but the New York times tech commentator concludes that a great part of it is simply pandemic boredom. People have money to spend and are generally bored.

Market commentator Howard Lindzon concluded that:

It’s just a pent-up cycle where the money has nowhere to go, so it’s doing stupid things.

NFT Bubble?

One of the more interesting stories within that long read (which can also be heard as a podcast) is the tale of 35-year-old lawyer Matthew Schorr of Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

The man bought 8 bitcoins back in 2011, but traded them for a Domino’s Pizza when he told his friends about it. They answered that it was fake money and that he better buy them all a pizza instead.

If he would have held on, the Bitcoins would have been worth some $450,000 today. That’s expensive pizza.

pic.twitter.com/Ngk8SJvDUW

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 19, 2021

As Matthew didn’t want to lose out again, he spent $5,000 this time round buying some 351 videos from NBA Top Shot as NFTs a few months ago, a market that many are proclaiming is a bubble as well.

According to Momentranks, Mr Schorr’s investments have since shot up to a value of $67,000. We hope he doesn’t wait too long to sell them but in any case, it’s a journey he won’t forget.