Bitcoin and Crypto Approach "Dot-Com Level" Low Point

As cryptocurrencies' value climbed in 2017, many onlookers predicted a rapidly inflating investment bubble.

Each new price hike brought additional bubble prognosis, and any dip in value had pundits scrambling to declare that the bubble finally burst.

In December 2017 crypto markets experienced a sharp pullback that dropped the collective cap by more than 25% in a matter of hours.

After months of near continual growth, this rapid descent was shocking to investors, and skeptics had plenty of ammunition to decry the crypto bubble.

"That hasn't stopped crypto bulls from expressing incredulity. In a February 2018 interview with Bloomberg, Nouriel Roubini, dubbed"Dr. Doom, decried Bitcoin as "The biggest bubble in human history."

Now, after six months of near continual decline, cryptocurrencies are finally starting to reach bubble bursting scale.

Burgeoning new technology and an abundance of entrepreneurial confidence encouraged hundreds of startups to capitalize on this new opportunity to create a new, digital economy.

Ultimately, the dot-com crashed to produce a peak to trough tumble of 78%. Currently, Bitcoin is down 70% from its peak price, which places it in range of the dot-com bust.

Reminder: cryptocurrencies are still a new and hyper-volatile asset class, and could drop to near-zero at any time.

In the long run, comparisons to the dot-com bubble aren't quite as incendiary as it may seem.