One minute your bank account is swimming in investment money, and the next it all disappears.

Each year Marketing I and Economics students at White Station participate in the stock game to help them better understand investments and trends of the stock market. Students are required to build a diverse portfolio and “invest” money into companies to watch how money comes and goes.  

“I want [students] to understand that there is volatility involved in the stock market, that there is risk involved,” Marketing I teacher Mr. Bell said.

Investment in cryptocurrency has grown in popularity in recent years. Unlike the stock market, cryptocurrency is a form of digital currency that operates without a central bank or administrator. Bitcoin is one of the many digital currencies available in the market along with Ethereum Ripple, Litecoin and Monero. The company was founded in 2009 but has acquired unprecedented fame this past year as a result of the spike in its value. Many investors of cryptocurrency use an app called CoinBase to easily manage their transactions. Digital currency appeals to minors especially because an adult is not required to open the investment account.

Cryptocurrency technology is still relatively new, leaving room for many advancements to be made.

“The time for the money to get from my bank account to CoinBase to buy my bitcoin can sometimes take a week,” Anthony Madubuonwu (12) said. “[Bitcoin could be better by] making it so that worth correlates more with U.S. dollars in the sense that I can use a currency to go do day-to-day things.”

Moreover, the market is extremely volatile and difficult to predict, so it is important to invest in stocks and cryptocurrency with caution.

“Cryptocurrency is like the Wild West of investing. There’s not a lot of regulation at all,” Zack Roder (12) said. “Money that you put in could go away entirely.”

However, the digital age is upon us; the technological developments of cryptocurrency are here to stay.

We have become such a digital society. [Cryptocurrency] is a digital currency, so it makes sense that we would have something like this and that it will stay,” Bell said.