crypto hype

the real winner: the brokers (basically bookies)

Bitcoin broker Coinbase booked $1 billion in revenue last year - Recode
The six-year-old company crossed $1 billion in revenue last year, Recode has learned from industry sources, a tremendous rise fueled by layman interest in both bitcoin and competing virtual currencies that users can buy and sell through the app.

The company’s valuation has likely at least doubled since its last valuation of $1.6 billion in August. Coinbase was only expected to do about $600 million in yearly revenue as of September 30, according to people with knowledge of the figures, but bitcoin’s run between Thanksgiving and Christmas boosted the company’s 2017 revenue to over $1 billion.