The John Oliver Cryptocurrency Bundle: What’s the value now?

In May of this year I wrote an article that looked at the value of the 17 cryptocurrencies that had been mentioned by John Oliver in 2018. I don’t advise writing articles such as these as it resulted in me getting constant ads for “crypto.com, a metal credit card powered by crypto.” It turned out to be an odd time to write such an article because many of these currencies had limped along with very low values for years, only to have shot up in value in the last few months. This was in part driven by Elon Musk pumping up the crypto market for personal gain.

I put forth in the article that while several of the cryptos had gained value, their status was very unstable making them unsafe investments. I wanted to see where the market actually went, so here is a follow up. I’m omitting the six cryptos (Bitconnect, Long Blockchain Corp, Jesus Coin, Titcoin, Snovio, and NewBits) that had ceased to exist as of my last article.

1. Bitcoin

2018: $9,925

May 2021: $57,397.23

September 2021: $46,113.20

This price actually represents something of a rally for Bitcoin, the price dropped to $30,000 in July. Its still by far the top dog with a market value of $870 Billion, but that doesn’t mean it’s a safe investment. I said in May that the time to sell was now, and if you have Bitcoin today I also think the time to sell is now.

2. DogeCoin

2018: $.004

May 2021: $.41

September 2021: $.25

DogeCoin is a favorite crypto of Elon Musk. The cult around this man is deeply frustrating. In the clip above he basically admits that DogeCoin is nonsense and that he's hustling everyone. The crowd fanatically cheers him on. Market cap $33 Billion.

3. EOS

2018: $5.79

May 2021: $6.77

September 2021: $4.69

Once in the top five of cryptos it currently stands as the 33rd most valuable. There’s also been recent accusations that during its release there was wash trading--buying and selling at the same time to manipulate prices. These kinds of scams are not uncommon in the poorly regulated crypto market. Market value $4.5 Billion.

4. TrumpCoin

2018: $.05

May 2021: $.03

September 2021: $.06

Of all the coins to double in value, I wouldn’t have guessed this one. Though as I pointed out before, with its small market value, currently $403 Thousand, it would only take a few MAGA types to pump up its value. Maybe they read my stuff.

5. Clams

2018: $.66

May 2021: $2.66

September 2021: $4.30*

Clams continues to go up, though it’s such a small fry I can’t get any data beyond that. And there’s a big asterisk on that coin value, more on that at the end of the article.

6. InsaneCoin

2018: $.06

May 2021: $.01

September 2021: $.005

I didn’t think InsaneCoin could do any worse than a penny a coin, but apparently I was wrong. Market Value $142 thousand.

7. Electroneum

2018: $.05

May 2021: $.02

September 2021: $.01

Electroneum is working towards becoming the payment provider of choice in Africa. I’m really hoping Africans don’t get scammed by this bullshit. Market value $232 million.

8. Wax

2018: $.13

May 2021: $.26

September 2021: $.28

Wax was created to make e-commerce transactions faster, simpler and safer. Present day Wax has transitioned into making Megadeth collectables. Which is just such an amazing move I have to applaud them.

9. Particl

2018: $21

May 2021: $2.77

September 2021: $1.54

Market value of $17 million. It’s getting overshadowed by a crypto market place with a similar name.

10. DeepOnion

2018: $2.20

May 2021: $.67

September 2021: $.20

Market value is $4.4 million. Promises security, though not value apparently.

11. Pluton

2018: $13.16

September 2021: $10.34

May 2021: $5.12

Pluton was the first crypto to announce a loyalty rewards program, which should be a nice compensation for losing half its value in a few months. Market value $4.4 million.

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So there you have it: of the 11 currencies listed, 8 lost value. Of the three that gained value, 2 of them rose by less than a nickel. The only one that gained significant value was Clams, and that was the one that Coinbase.com (my primary resource for this article) had the least data for. So I tried looking at other websites. Coinmarketcap.com says Clams is only worth $1.80 instead of $4.30. So I checked a third website, Coingecko.com which said Clams is only worth $.37. So it’s not clear how much Clams is actually worth, but I certainly wouldn’t put my money into it. Though I really wouldn't put my money in any of them. Blockchain technology has the potential to be useful, but it's not there yet. Currently it resembles a gold rush, where tales of a handful of people striking it rich spurn thousands of other people to risk--and lose--everything.