--- title: A Cryptocurrency Pioneer Just Issued a Huge Word of Caution for Investors description: Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of the cryptocurrency Ethereum, just issued a word of caution about investing in Bitcoin and other cryptos. authors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Investing - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2018-02-20T15:13:19.000Z' modified: '2024-05-16T13:01:13.000Z' section: Investing tags: - Bitcoin - cryptocurrencies - Cryptocurrency - digital currencies - ethereum - Mark Cuban word_count: 362 canonical: https://money.com/ethereum-red-flag-cryptocurrency-investors/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Cryptocurrency : Illustration](https://img.money.com/2018/02/ethereumfoundercryptos-in-913110756.jpg) *Visual representations of the cryptocurrencies Ripple, Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum.* The wild swings in the value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies lately should reinforce the idea that they are not sound long-term investments—and that investors should only buy as much as they can afford to lose. If this sounds overly cautious, consider the recent insights of someone who you might otherwise assume is a true believer in cryptocurrencies: Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of the cryptocurrency Ethereum. Over the weekend, [Buterin sent out a Tweet](https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/964838207215955969) reminding everyone that "cryptocurrencies are still a new and hyper-volatile asset class." Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and other cryptocurrencies "could drop to near-zero at any time," Buterin said. Therefore, "Don't put in more money than you can afford to lose. If you're trying to figure out where to store your life savings, traditional assets are still your safest bet." Over the past 12 months, the value of Bitcoin has skyrocketed from [$1,000 to nearly $20,000](https://money.com/there-could-be-as-many-as-200-bitcoin-billionaires-in-the-world-right-now/), before plunging below $6,000 in early 2018. Cryptocurrencies like Litecoin, Ripple, and Ethereum dipped more than 25% in a single day recently. Essentially, Buterin's message urging caution isn't all that different from those issued by cryptocurrency skeptics such as Yale economist Robert Shiller, who has frequently spoken about how unpredictable the cryptocurrency markets are. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin “might totally collapse and be forgotten and I think that’s a good likely outcome" [Shiller said on CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/19/bitcoin-likely-to-totally-collapse-nobel-laureate-robert-shiller-says.html) earlier this year. "But it could linger on for a good long time, it could be here in 100 years," he added. As for a prudent strategy to investing in cryptocurrencies, Buterin's approach is similar to that of Mark Cuban, the billionaire star of *Shark Tank* and owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks. “It’s still very much a gamble,” [Cuban told Money](https://money.com/mark-cuban-bitcoin-advice/) last December, when asked specifically about Bitcoin. “It could go to $15,000 or zero and maybe both on the same day.” Like Buterin, Cuban said that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are very risky—and that no one should gambling their life savings on them. “If it’s money you need to depend on and can’t afford to lose, don’t do it,” Cuban said. “If you have money you can gamble with, then it’s worth taking a shot.” ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/ethereum-red-flag-cryptocurrency-investors/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Investing", "item": "https://money.com/investing/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Cryptocurrency", "item": "https://money.com/cryptocurrency/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "A Cryptocurrency Pioneer Just Issued a Huge Word of Caution for Investors" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/ethereum-red-flag-cryptocurrency-investors/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/ethereum-red-flag-cryptocurrency-investors/", "name": "A Cryptocurrency Pioneer Just Issued a Huge Word of Caution for Investors", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2018-02-20T15:13:19.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/ethereum-red-flag-cryptocurrency-investors/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/ethereum-red-flag-cryptocurrency-investors/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-05-16T13:01:13.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "A Cryptocurrency Pioneer Just Issued a Huge Word of Caution for Investors", "articleSection": "Investing", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2018/02/ethereumfoundercryptos-in-913110756.jpg", "width": 5040, "height": 3318, "caption": "Cryptocurrency : Illustration" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brad Tuttle", "url": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/#author", "description": "Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals.\r\n\r\n", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/01/Brad-Tuttle.png?w=226&h=247&crop=1", "alumniOf": "Columbia University School of Journalism, MS", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle", "https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2018-02-20T15:13:19.000Z", "description": "Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of the cryptocurrency Ethereum, just issued a word of caution about investing in Bitcoin and other cryptos.", "abstract": "Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of the cryptocurrency Ethereum, just issued a word of caution about investing in Bitcoin and other cryptos.", "@id": "https://money.com/ethereum-red-flag-cryptocurrency-investors/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-05-16T13:01:13.000Z", "wordCount": 362, "keywords": [ "Bitcoin", "cryptocurrencies", "Cryptocurrency", "digital currencies", "ethereum", "Mark Cuban" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Investment", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investment" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Cryptocurrency", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrency" ] } ] } ] } ```