NORFOLK, Va. — In the wake of total stock market disruption from companies like GameStop and AMC, more people are looking to invest, with the hope of hitting it big and getting rich quick.
One thing they’re turning to is "cryptocurrency."
“It’s a form of money that’s remarkable for what it’s not,” said ODU lecturer of finance, Andrew Cohen.
Think of cryptocurrency as digital currency, but not like money you have in an online bank account.
When you own cryptocurrency, you own a little block of information and the super complex codes that protect it. It’s harder to hack and counterfeit like real money.
The most popular variation of cryptocurrency is Bitcoin.
A $1 investment in bitcoin back in 2011 would be worth almost $38,000 in real U.S. cash today.
“It’s exploded because of supply and demand function,” said Cohen.
Demand has increased, in part, because of apps on your phone that make it easy buy crypto.
The Voyager app, for example, crashed last week because of a surge of new users. It now has a long waitlist just to sign up.