Author: Anita Sthankiya

It was just 18 years ago that the world was being bombarded with internet-based companies, and just about everyone was talking about the dotcom bubble. It was a different time back then. The world was worried about Y2K, pre-9/11, Justin and Britney were pop royalty and the Nokia 3310 was the number one selling cell phone on the market.

Yes, it was a simpler time back then, that was, until March 10, 2000. The world as we knew it came crashing down, well at least online. Fortunes were lost, stocks slumped, companies folded, and the economy began to slip down like a mudslide. The end result: a full-on recession in North America.

Sound familiar? It should, because right now at this very moment we are in the middle of another booming, technology-based industry that is heading towards a slump: blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.

Just like the dotcom bubble, blockchain and cryptocurrency is on everyone’s lips. It’s popular to be in the blockchain technology industry and everyone is racing to get their “revolutionary” product to market. As with any commodity, when excitement grows, so to does the value of cryptocurrency. While this frenzy to jump on the cryptocurrency train makes for plenty of excitement, just like the dotcom bubble, things will likely burst, and they are already headed that way, as prices have fallen significantly.

In the late ’90s, access to the internet expanded and computing became an important part of people’s daily lives all around the globe. It turned everyday people into entrepreneurs. Online retailing became “big business,” meaning virtually everyone was launching a home-based business, rapidly turning to e-commerce, and throwing money at every “great” idea. Companies went to market with Initial Public Offerings (IPOs). They managed to fetch insane prices because of the excitement, with some stocks doubling on the first day. Visionary innovators went to market with their idea with the hopes of finding a gem that would make them millions.

Photo Credit: Pexels.com

Unfortunately the good times didn’t last, with the market depleting and the dotcom boom coming to a crashing halt in March 2000. The NASDAQ regressed from $6.71 trillion on March 10 to $6.02 trillion by end-of-month. Six days later, on April 6, the market fell even further to $5.78 trillion. In less than one month, nearly a trillion dollars worth of stock value evaporated, along with it, people’s investments and dreams. Companies started folding and advertising dollars shrivelled up. During the 2000 Super Bowl, 17 dotcom companies had paid $44 million for ad spots. Just one year later, only three dotcom companies ran ads during the game.

So many dreams came to a crashing halt in a matter of a couple of years. The majority of those who sunk their life savings into a dotcom business ended up going bankrupt due to the instability of the market. But not everyone failed, those with innovative ideas remained thanks to consumer demand. Really great companies rose from the ashes of the NASDAQ fire, while the other ones slowly disappeared from memory. You probably don’t realize how many mega corporations were formed during the dotcom bubble. Companies that you use every single day.

Amazon…

Adobe…

EBay…

Priceline…

The rest, the companies that were good on paper but were not sustainable or the ones that were just an okay idea, fell away for a variety of different reasons. You may remember companies such as Pets.com. The company launched in August 1998 and became famous for the millions it spent on TV advertising with a sockpuppet. The company IPO-ed in February 2000 and raised $82.5 million, but was liquidated just 268 days later. According to experts, the online pet store did not offer a compelling reason for people to shop online. While it is was convenient to order online, it took too long for customers to receive their orders.