Wybo Wiersma – a 40-year-old Oxford University graduate – has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison after scamming over $2 million in crypto from unsuspecting victims. Following his arrest in 2019, the Dutchman was extradited from the Netherlands back to the United Kingdom (UK) in 2021. Following a five-year investigation by the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU), he pled guilty on January 26 to the Oxford Crown Court. A Five-Year Investigation As reported by…
What is Supply and Demand?
In economics, supply and demand refer to the relationship between the quantity of a good or service available and the quantity people are willing to purchase at a given price. When the quantity of a good or service that is available (the “supply”) is greater than the quantity that people are willing to purchase (the “demand”), the price of the good or service will generally fall. Conversely, when the quantity of a good or service is less than the quantity people are willing to purchase, the price will rise.
In cryptocurrency, supply and demand work in much the same way. The price of a cryptocurrency will rise if its demand exceeds the supply, and it will fall if the supply exceeds the demand.
One practical example of how supply and demand can affect the price of a cryptocurrency is the following:
Imagine that a new cryptocurrency called “CoinX” is gaining popularity. As more and more people become interested in CoinX and start buying it, the demand for CoinX increases. At the same time, the coin supply is relatively fixed (at least in the short term) since a limited number of CoinX coins have been created. Therefore, as the demand for CoinX increases and the supply remains fixed, the price of CoinX will tend to rise.
On the other hand, if the popularity of CoinX starts to wane and fewer people are interested in buying it, the demand for CoinX will decrease. Therefore, if the supply of CoinX remains fixed, the price of CoinX will tend to fall as the demand for it decreases.
Can the Supply and Demand Be Manipulated?
The supply and demand for a good or service, including cryptocurrency, can be manipulated.
For example, suppose a group of people or entities controls a large portion of the supply of a particular cryptocurrency. In that case, they may be able to influence the price of that cryptocurrency by releasing more of the coins onto the market (increasing the supply) or by holding onto the coins and not selling them (decreasing the supply).
In addition, if a group of people or entities can spread false information about a particular cryptocurrency, they may be able to influence the demand for that cryptocurrency by convincing people to buy or sell it. This is known as “market manipulation.”
It is worth noting that market manipulation is generally illegal, and efforts are being made to crack down on it. However, it can still be a problem in some cases, particularly in markets that are not heavily regulated.