Editor's Note: This is the first of a three-part series exploring the world of cryptocurrencies and crypto assets at the tricampus. The next part of this series will cover Blockchain, the technology powering the crypto asset space, and questions related to crypto asset valuation.
Inside a Duncan Hall dorm, a Notre Dame sophomore builds a DIY cryptocurrency mining rig. Whether you're in class or sleeping in your loft bed, the machinery hums to solve difficult calculations and earn cryptocurrency rewards on the fly. Ethereal net.
Mitchell Brown, along with many other college students, has taken his interest in crypto assets to the next level by putting his own money on the line. Like many of his peers, Brown sees profit potential and future potential in the space.
“In what other markets can a $5 investment turn into $500,000 in less than a year?” Brown said. "The thrill of huge gains, and even steeper losses, is part of the fun of cryptocurrency trading."
When Bitcoin hit the market in 2009, investors were skeptical. Some began to change their minds when the price of this cryptocurrency rose from less than $1 per coin to more than $60,000 per coin in the last two volatile decades.
Students across three campuses, members of a generation accustomed to near-constant digital upgrades, vary in their understanding of cryptocurrencies, but most students have heard of the big-name coins, or so-called blue chips.
While students do not claim to have a perfect understanding of cryptocurrencies, many say that they have the potential to become the next big financial innovation.
“I feel like it's going to be the new currency. I really do,” said Skyler Hamilton, a senior. “I feel like a lot of people are buying Bitcoin stocks and shares, especially my friends. Now it's even in apps like Cash App."
Hamilton said that he does not invest in crypto assets. But many of his peers do, including freshman Robert Batistich, who said he bought Bitcoin and Ethereum stocks during his senior year of high school, in large part because of what he calls "FOMO": the "fear of miss out" potential gains. . When he saw the price of Bitcoin drop last year, he jumped at the chance.
“I missed the first big jump to $60,000. I was like, 'OK, now it's down,'” Batistich said. "It was under $40,000, and I was like, 'Okay, I'm going to buy it now because I know it's going to keep going up.'"
Brown, who mines Ethereum, started an unofficial group company with four high school friends last year. The group primarily mines Ethereum and trades both well-established coins and lesser-known "junk coins," as Brown calls them.
Brown said he knows these coins are extremely volatile and have little real value. He sees the small coin trades as a form of gambling, but that doesn't stop him from having a little fun.
A little more cautious about the space, University finance professors and students planning to work in crypto assets acknowledge the possibilities and uncertainties in the space.
"This has a lot of upside potential, whether it works out or not, I don't know," said Notre Dame finance professor Bill McDonald.
Those more immersed in crypto than the average student identify the technology behind crypto assets and their applications as the main advantage, tempered by risks related to regulation and lack of reliable valuation techniques.
