My Co-Workers Are Using the Term "Altcoins" at Lunch

Yes, I'm tagging this as anecdotal.

I've been in crypto since the 2020 crash and subsequent market boom in 2021. Last time around, as crypto was heating up, there was a noted rise in public comment: an NFL player requesting his salary in bitcoin instead of dollars, bitcoin purchase stations being added to US gas stations, and even that goddamn SuperBowl commercial.

It was a time for trotting out a longtime crypto concept: everyone feels like a genius in the boom times.

Once bitcoin got mentioned on my dad's local news station, even he started talking about it, and how his (elderly) neighbors were all aware that it was a crazy scam.

The real sign of the times, though, was when my co-workers decided to start talking about bitcoin and their "altcoin portfolios" at lunch. Mind you: these are people who don't own stocks, laughed at me when I told them I used our company's 401-K matching offer, and let multiple people know that their ultimate retirement plan is to win a couple of big scratch-off lottery tickets. (You know, because if they buy a few every week for life, they're "guaranteed" to win a big one or two.)

Then the bubble burst and my co-workers all shut the hell up about crypto except for one who admitted their paper hands folding. (I suspect all of them traded at a loss instead of waiting 5 years for this run-up.)

Anyway, the circle is becoming complete again: my co-worker lunch table is talking loudly about DOGE and other altcoins and how they're going to get vacation homes soon.

You know the rest, cryptofam: if you've been DCAing since the 2021 crash, we're back into the public talking phase. Will the bigger fireworks go off? Bitcoin hitting 122k was a big damn firework, for sure, but will we see something more?