CRYPTOCURRENCY IN 2018: LOST ILLUSIONS, ALL-LEGAL LEGITIMIZATION AND FINDING ADEQUATED PLACES AND ROLES IN THE FINANCIAL MARKET
The urgency of the problem under study is due to debatable questions about the genesis, nature, functions and trends of the further development of the cryptocurrency market, which demonstrated dizzying dynamics of quotations in 2017-2018, and describes them as a “cryptocurrency bubble”, “digital financial pyramid”, “cryptocurrency pandemic”. The authors substantiate the original position on these debatable questions about the essential difference between money and cryptocurrencies, due to which the latter are considered as a kind of financial assets, as other property that is internally incapable to perform the basic functions of money. The purpose of the research is to formulate the authors’ concept, which reveals the nature, genesis, essence of cryptocurrencies and their immanent place in the structure of the global financial market. Research methods are systematic, institutional and analytical methods, as well as the dialectical unity of deduction and induction, quantitative and qualitative analysis. As a result, the dynamics of cryptocurrency quotes for the period from 2013 to November 2018 are revealed, internal links between economy digitalization and the emergence of cryptocurrencies are justified, the forecast for the further development of the cryptocurrency market is given, the role, place and significance of the cryptocurrency market in the global financial market are determined.
Keywords: cryptocurrency, bitcoin, financial bubble, digital economy.
Highlights:
the authors analyze the dynamics of cryptocurrency quotes for the period from 2013 to November 2018;
the internal links between economy digitalization and the emergence of cryptocurrency are substantiated;
the forecast for the further development of the cryptocurrency market is given;
the adequate role and place of the cryptocurrency market in the global financial market is determined.
Konstantin N. Ermolaev, Doctor of Economics, Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Institutional Economics and Economic History; Julia A. Pavlova, a post-graduate student - Samara State University of Economics.