The price of bitcoin has undergone yet another wild gyration, rising from US$41,030 to US$69,000 between September 29 and November 10 last year, before falling back to US$35,075 on January 23. That is its second-largest decline in absolute value, though it has suffered larger declines in percentage terms, notably falling by 83.8 per cent between December 15, 2017 and December 14, 2018. More broadly, the cryptocurrency market (comprising some 12,278 coins) was estimated to be worth US$3.3 trillion on November 8, 2021, before plummeting to US$1.75 trillion as of January 30. A private digital asset based on a distributed ledger...