History doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes. And one of its favorite rhymes is the speculative boom — that intoxicating period when anyone with an internet connection (or a ship ticket) can get rich quick. Then, just as predictably, the music stops.
We’ve just lived through one of the longest and loudest of these cycles in crypto. The era of truly “easy money” in the space is finished. The market has become efficient, institutional, and unforgiving. But if you zoom out, you’ll see the same story playing out again and again for the last five centuries.
1. Tulip Mania (1634–1637) — 3 years
In the Dutch Golden Age, a single rare tulip bulb traded for the price of a luxury canal house. People sold…
