Whether it’s the shoeshine boy of decades past, or the taxi driver
of more recent times, an old investing adage suggests that when somebody
you wouldn’t expect is talking stocks or giving you portfolio advice,
it’s time to sell.

And these days, it’s hard to find someone who isn’t talking about Bitcoin.


From
high school students discussing how to purchase fractions of the
digital currency over lunch at McDonald’s to YouTube celebrities giving
advice on how to make a quick buck, or thousand, the mania around the
cryptocurrency has been mounting for weeks

On Sunday night, it grew even stronger, as Cboe Global Markets Inc. launched the trading
of Bitcoin futures contracts, leading to another price surge and the
imposition of trading halts to quell the frenzied activity.


On
Monday, the rise continued, as prices for the contract expiring on Jan.
17 — the vast majority of CBOE Bitcoin futures traded so far have been
of the one-month variety — leapt more than US$3,100 to US$18,600 by late
afternoon.The
price of Bitcoin itself, as report by Coindesk.com, also surged Monday,
climbing nearly 13 cent to surpass US$17,000 for the first time.


“We’re
obviously dealing with a global phenomenon that everyone can
potentially partake in — both the creation of Bitcoin, but also
investing in it,” said Douglas Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital
Markets. “There is a place for it, and certainly the blockchain
technology does have a very important future. Having said that, every
great mania or bubble starts off with a very compelling story.


”The
most popular of many unregulated digital currencies with blockchain as
the underpinning technology, Bitcoin began 2017 just below US$1,000, and
is up more than 275 per cent in the past three months alone.“It
has — to some extent — gotten a stamp of legitimacy from the fact that
the CBOE has welcomed it, and the fact that so many central bank
officials globally are now looking at it,” Porter said, noting
speculation that the U.S.


Federal Reserve may eventually issue its own
cryptocurrency, and ensure Americans use it.“We’re definitely
hearing modern-day versions of the shoeshine boy story, which is usually
a pretty good signal that we’re getting close to the top.


Although,
history has show that manias can go on a lot longer than many people
believe is possible,” he added....continue reading: http://business.financialpost.com/technology/blockchain/when-your-cab-driver-starts-talking-about-bi...