Our topic today concerns cryptocurrency.
Here are our keywords and expressions. You will hear me use them later in context. Listen closely:
VOCABULARY
- Buzz: This is slang. It means intense enthusiasm, interest, and excitement.
- Wave of the future: A trend that will eventually become the norm, the standard.
- Ponzi scheme: A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent, dishonest investment opportunity that pays high financial returns at first by paying early investors with money invested by later investors.
- Fiat money: a currency that is backed by the government that issued it.
DISCUSSION
It is impossible to miss the buzz around cryptocurrency these days. The news is everywhere, and the rush to invest has been impressive. Investors around the world think that crypto-currency, often just called “crypto” for short, is the “wave of the future”, and will soon replace, or at least complement, the traditional fiat currencies now in use by countries around the world.
Of course, not everyone agrees with this optimistic outlook, and some experts are in fact very critical. For example, two weeks ago, the Deputy Governor of India’s central bank, T Rabi Shankar, said in a speech that cryptocurrencies are not suitable to be defined as a currency, asset or commodity because they have no underlying cash flows and they have no intrinsic value. He went on to say that cryptocurrencies are similar to Ponzi schemes, and may even be worse,”.
The influential policymaker went added that perhaps ‘banning’ cryptocurrencies was the most sensible option for India, which by the way, has seen the second-highest adoption rate for cryptocurrency investments in the world. According to the crypto-analysis firm Chainalysis, crypto investments in India have exploded, growing 641% from July 2020 through June 2021.
We’ll have to wait to see what the future is for cryptocurrency. On one hand, there is an incredible amount of enthusiasm, but on the other hand, there are serious voices calling out for investors to be cautious. What do you think? Is cryptocurrency an empty promise with as many fundamentals as a Ponzi scheme? Or is it really the wave of the future? Time will tell.
Alright, are you now familiar with the meanings of the following words and expressions?
VOCABULARY REVIEW
- Buzz: This is slang. It means intense enthusiasm, interest, and excitement.
- Wave of the future: A trend that will eventually become the norm, the standard.
- Ponzi scheme: A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent, dishonest investment opportunity that pays high financial returns at first by paying early investors with money invested by later investors.
- Fiat money: a currency that is backed by the government that issued it.
CONCLUSION
I hope you enjoyed today’s lesson. If you’re interested in another English lesson related to cryptocurrency, make sure to check out our lesson on CBDC, Stablecoins, DeFi and Web3 to continue improving your business vocabulary. ‘Till next time!
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