opposite may be true up to a point and for certain periods. Right now, Bitcoin is still an insignificant curiosity to the financial markets, with a network value of just USD 218 billion. If and when it breaks through the USD 1 trillion level, it will likely be seen and accepted as a fully-fledged asset class and the financial world will go about building out complete financial markets infrastructure (full suite of derivatives, more robust and liquid exchanges and trading platforms, more custody options). That, combined with broadening private and public institutional ownership over time, will serve to consolidate Bitcoin’s position as a monetary store of value and reduce risk. Of course, if at some point price starts to overshoot the potential value estimates for the relevant stage of adoption we’re in, we could reasonably begin to worry. But let’s cross that bridge if and when we come to it. Consistent with the overall approach of this paper, the point of the foregoing isn’t to say that the above necessarily will happen but rather to look at what reasonably could happen. Depending on what stage of the adoption path we are on and where we are relative to long- term potential network value and the interim milestone value points along the way, it may be entirely reasonable for the price to move up by a lot in a very short period. Such moves don’t necessarily reflect irrational, bubble behaviour. 26