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RBI chief refers to 'tulip mania' as he warns against crypto; here are the biggest market bubbles in history
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RBI chief refers to 'tulip mania' as he warns against crypto; here are the biggest market bubbles in history
Feb 11, 2022 8:32 AM

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor, Shaktikanta Das, warned investors to keep in mind that they are investing in volatile assets at their own risk. "And these cryptocurrencies have no underlying (value) -- not even a tulip," he warned.

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"Private cryptocurrency is a huge threat to macro-economic stability and financial stability... investors should keep this in mind that they are investing at their own risk," Das said during a news conference following a monetary policy meeting.

Also read: Gabriel Makhlouf likens craze for Bitcoin to 17th century Tulip Mania

Das was perhaps referring to the infamous Dutch tulip bubble, or the 'tulip mania,' as it was called. The tulip bubble was one of the biggest bubbles seen in history. Between November 1636 and February 1637, prices of tulip flowers rose by over 20 times. When the bubble inevitably collapsed, prices of tulips fell by over 99 percent by some estimates. It was perhaps one of the first recorded instances of an asset price bubble.

Here are some of the other biggest asset bubbles in history:

The South Sea Company bubble

The infamous South Sea Company bubble was an asset bubble involving the stocks of the South Sea Company. The company was a public-private partnership, which was given a monopoly to fish in the abundant waters of the South American coastline, which was almost entirely controlled by the Spanish and the Portuguese; the British were at war with the former.

Finally, after the shares of the company hit prices as high as 1050 pounds from 128 pounds, the bubble finally collapsed and ushered in a severe economic crisis.

Also read: Explained: Why some countries are banning crypto advertisements

The dotcom bubble

Perhaps one of the biggest bubbles in terms of value and size, the dotcom bubble was ushered in through rampant speculative rise in the shares of tech companies. The internet had brought forth a myriad of opportunities and investors had been sold on the idea. However, when the prices finally collapsed, over $5 trillion in market value was wiped out, with the NASDAQ falling by 75 percent.

The 2007-2008 housing bubble

The housing bubble was perhaps one of the most complex asset bubbles to exist, as its ramifications were felt all over the globe for years. Believing real estate to be one of the safer assets, institutional investors backed their money into real estate through increasingly complex securities. When the market peaked and crashed, $19.2 trillion in household wealth was gone, with 8.8 million jobs lost in the US alone. The crash ushered in the 2008 financial crisis.

The Japanese bubble economy

Brought on from the Japanese government’s effort to counteract the recession in its economy, the Japanese bubble affected the real estate and the stock market in the 1980s.

Also read: Boom and bust: How Japan’s asset market collapsed in the Lost Decade

Though the government attempted to control the soaring prices, the bubble did finally burst in the 1990s and led to an era of stagnant economic growth in the country.

The 1920s ‘bull’ market

After the world recovered from the World War I and the effects of the Spanish Flu, stock markets entered a phase of dizzying rally on optimistic opinions about business and fundamentals. But what was thought to be a change in fundamentals was only a greater reliance on leverage. The infamous ‘Black Thursday’ started the sell-off and the great crash in 1929, which would go on to be the leading cause of the Great Depression.

Also read: 'Cryptos are biggest financial bubble ever in history,' says famed investor Rich Bernstein

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)

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