Full coverage: Cryptocurrencies

The cryptocurrency exchange hired staff quickly – more than doubling headcount in recent months – and laid them off quickly too. On a Tuesday morning last month, staff at its Irish office found themselves looking at blank screens.

The momentum factor is a cast-off from the rest of the financial economics literature. But it seems to explain the behaviour of crypto markets pretty well.

Confidence in crypto has evaporated in recent months. The latest crypto business to find itself in trouble is Celsius, a quasi-bank.

Titus Williams is trying is trying to discover the owner of a Coinbase account that he believes was instrumental in the theft of Bitcoin valued at $1.8m. His efforts have led him to the High Court in Dublin.

The largest impediment towards institutional investment in Bitcoin has been the lack of established custodians in this sector. This is now changing, and there is a grudging acceptance that cryptocurrencies are here to stay.

Graeme de Renzy has sold insurance, flipped property and championed a “double your money” scheme. Now, the Dublin businessman is being pursued by a Cayman Islands blockchain company in Dublin over a $50m deal.

Ruja Ignatova was the darling of the cryptocurrency world. Now, both she and billions of investor funds are missing too. Hundreds of Irish investors have been caught, while the perpetrators are alleged to have laundered €300m through Bank of Ireland.