Why is the crypto booming again?

I'd say the biggest reasons recently are:

1) The approval of various ETFs (so demand is heightened). It's much easier to invest in it than in was in the past.

2) Traders expecting the supply to tighten (see bitcoin halving which is due very soon) and the demand there also heightening due to supply constraint expectation.

3) A lot of the uncertainty in terms of exchanges is gone. Coinbase looks like it can stand up to scrutiny and this furthermore boosts demand.

When you have huge demand vs. constrained supply, bubbles form. Of course, are all of the factors I mentioned enough to keep the bubble going for a very long time? Well, that I can't answer. No one knows how long this will last. I can tell you though that this to me looks like it is the next Tulip bubble. I see almost no reason to use bitcoin as a store of wealth. As a decentralized currency it has tremendous value, but treating it as gold I have reservations on since a lot of corrupt gangs and regimes are currently using it as a method of payment and laundering (including North Korea), as well as it being a huge drain on the world's energy supply due to mining energy needs...I don't really see what value it brings to the world at all, so treating it as 'virtual gold' (the way the world has been treating it) makes 0 sense to me, but in general, the world in the short-term sometimes makes very little sense. Over the long term, things tend to clear up. Hopefully that helps.

It always booms because of the Bitcoin halving. People buy Bitcoin because it's going to be rarer and less mineable. Prices go up.

Others buy because the prices are going up. Some genius draws lines on a graph that tells them prices are going to go up even more, and they buy more. Because the Bitcoin halving tends to be over a 4 year cycle, it's very convenient for the line drawers to predict patterns, and it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

Bitcoin ETF. 4 year halvening cycle. US Feds expected to print dollars this year.

The same reason stanley cups got super popular for a bit. Herd mentality and lack of regulation.

This is kind of the main use case for crypto. Fear and Greed

It's regarded as an inflation hedge but it seems more accurate to describe it as a measure of liquidity and liquidity expectations in capital markets now. Like a "Risk-on" gauge.

Dedollarization? A fiat currency is only worth sonething if people are willing to accept it for actual stuff. Maybe it is different over there, but looking around an average EU home or business, I do not see much stuff 'made in USA'. And with a credible threat of CBDC's on the horizon, diversifying even a small % of your portfolio in some gold or bitcoin might be an acceptable hedge.

It was mostly due to the market being very low the last year and beginning of the year :

- Interest rates rise cut cash flow to many startups - NFT bubble burst - And mostly: the FTX drama, which froze even more investments in the market

Now it's starting to get back to "normal" (actually a bit more than normal with the Bitcoin spot ETF being approved)

Try asking in a forum that doesn't hate crypto with the fury of 1000 suns, you may get a better answer.

The crypto critics told you it was going to zero remember?

Where are they now? Dead silent after Ripple won the SEC lawsuit, the ETFs being approved and now BTC reaching $70K

This time without interest rate cuts, FTX, etc. So I say again:

Like it or not, crypto is here to stay.

I got recently granted airdrops for few cryptos due to past contributions to some open source projects (no idea which). It reminded me why cryptocoins won't ever take off.

   1. The time to transfer from coin to coin took ages
   2. To finish the transfer I would've paid fee (gas) on the target wallet (eth), and the price is ridiculous (around $20)
   3. Presumably I would've had to do this again if I wanted to transfer to exchange
   4. The UX in general is still bad and you have to become cryptocoin expert to actually do basic things

I don't deny that for some countries and especially long travel transfers cryptocoins might be the only valid option, but I do not ever see them becoming a currency for daily trade. As for the price? Speculation, money laundering and well I guess collectively lots of people are basically in the game already and don't want out / can't get out. As long as there is money in the game anything can thrive, even if it makes little sense or is technically dumb.

Are gold and crypto correlated? Both seem to be rising on rate cut prospects but not sure how proven the theory is.

a good case of pump and at some point a dump. The prices are pumped by insiders using pretty heavy leverage to make huge directional bets (just insane from a risk/reward perspective but hey, we're dealing with the most degenerate gamblers here) on the theory that a bunch of "muppets" (Goldman Sachs terminology here) are going to long term bring their savings through ETFs and provide much needed exit liquidity. Fascinating how humans are never changing or learning

Financial sanctions against Russia force Russians into crypto-currency as an alternative. This drives crypto prices up.

Generative AI shitting all over the internet creates a need for "verified" people, information etc.

The Blockchain promises this verification, decentralized.