Why did Bitcoin move from a currency to an investable asset in just 15 years of existence? It was because of mainstream adoption by retail investors who believed there was money to be made. But behind that mania for all things crypto was a much more serious undertaking – the birth of a new asset class. Investors came to understand that there was a market for crypto, and that it behaved differently from other assets in their portfolios. It’s not the first time the monetary system has absorbed a new asset class. In fact, the rise of crypto has striking parallels to the creation of stocks in the 1600s.