Bitcoin Explosion

A television screen lit up with the Business Everyday logo then panned into the media room where a beautiful blond journalist sat at her desk, her expression poised and confident. She adjusted her papers and looked directly into the camera.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Business Everyday. I am your host, Brooklyn Baker here with live news of the everyday intricacies of business and finance," she announced.

"It has been three weeks since our news broadcast made a controversial Drop Prediction regarding the infamous cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. And indeed, as we at Business Everyday forecasted, Bitcoin has suffered a catastrophic collapse. A plummet. A full-on crash."

The numbers appeared on the screen behind her, confirming the severity of the decline. Bitcoin had plummeted from $0.08 to $0.0002, even lower than the predicted $0.0003. A complete collapse.

"The cryptocurrency has registered one of the lowest drop rates of any commodity in modern times with a percentage of 99.75." She whistled and shook her head, clearly pleased by the news. "I don't know how the owners are going to deal with this one."

"However," Brooklyn continued, gesturing towards the figures, "this is what we have been saying all this while. This is why cryptocurrency can't be trusted. It is volatile, unpredictable, and unreliable. Bitcoin is drastically declining and will soon be nothing more than a memory. A failed experiment. A foolish gamble that no smart investor will ever look at again."

Brooklyn smiled, flipping a page in her notes. "We will go on a break now and return with more business news on Business Everyday."

The news ticker at the bottom of the screen flashed:

BITCOIN SUFFERS A MAJOR CRASH! IS THE CRYPTOCURRENCY OFFICIALLY DECLARED DEAD? FINANCIAL ANALYSTS PREDICT FINAL DISSOLUTION.

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Opposite the television, Adam Scotland swirled a glass of red wine in his hand. A woman lounged against him, her manicured fingers tracing lazy circles on his chest as she scrolled through her phone.

His eyes gazed at the large screen in front of him, reflecting the same news segment. He was pleased. He took a slow sip of the wine before chuckling.

'I knew it! I knew it was a smart move to withdraw early!' he mused in his thoughts. 'Twenty thousand dollars is still bigger than the twelve thousand I originally put in. A good return for a simple investment.'

'That's the difference between me and any other investor. I'm smart. I know when to pull out and when to go all in. Unlike that Duckling man who invests extravagantly. He didn't even withdraw! Now his $82,000 is only just around $200 now! How pathetic is that!'

"Ha ha ha ha!" he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

The woman beside him smiled, not particularly knowing why he was laughing, but Adam barely paid her any attention.

He moved his focus to his phone, hurriedly opening the CryptoTracker which was ablaze with activity. The comment section was flooded with reactions to the crash, the majority commenting on a certain investor.

FuglyDuckling.

Three weeks ago, this unknown mystery investor had made headlines for dropping a staggering $82,000 on Bitcoin — just before the crash. And now? The man was certainly ruined.

Some of the top comments read:

CryptoKingpin69: LMAOOOO, that idiot really spent 80K+ on Bitcoin just before it DIED.

Meatbeater2: This is why I only invest in solid commodities. Don't trust crypto guys! This dude basically set his cash on fire.

BigBankerBob: One word: IDIOT. Imagine putting $82,000 into a sinking ship. This guy got scammed by himself.

HandsomeDuckling: Hey, Fugly? How does it feel to be the biggest loser of the month?

Among the jeers were a few voices defending him.

EmeraldsFall: Not gonna lie, I kinda feel bad. That's a brutal loss.

RichNi99er: My man is going to come out strong. I don't think it's a big blow to him. He's probably a billionaire.

Danicbl45: ScottishPanda is the real winner here. He made a smart early exit and walked away with a profit. Look and learn, people.

Adam smirked at that last one.

ScottishPanda — his own alias — was officially listed as the top investor of the week, having made a clean profit from his well-timed withdrawal.

It was satisfying to see his name at the top. Following that, his followers began to grow once again and more friend requests came.

Adam had to drop a comment:

ScottishPanda: I guess some people are just built for investing, and others aren't.

He went to FuglyDuckling's unverified page and saw he had already started losing followers as people were starting to see him as some spoiled billionaire who had no real idea of the business and finance world.

That pleased Adam greatly. Because it was true — this guy, whoever he was, clearly wasn't as smart as he thought.

But suddenly, the TV commercial that was going on was interrupted and Business Everyday returned to the screen.

Adam creased his brows. 'That was an unusually short break. Already back with more news?'

The screen showed Brooklyn Baker holding a finger to her earpiece, and her expression was all of a sudden not the certain and proud one of before, but rigid with surprise. The screen behind her flashed with new data.

"We interrupt this commercial to announce that we have just received breaking news," she said, her voice forced into professional calm.

Music played as a flashing display took over the screen with an announcement:

BITCOIN SKYROCKETS – UNPRECEDENTED SPIKE FROM $0.0002 TO $0.90!

Adam's eyes widened. 'What?!' His head shot forward.

"Indeed, ladies and gentlemen. Despite Bitcoin's earlier crash, there has been an unexpected and unprecedented development. Bitcoin has—" She hesitated, as if struggling to believe the words herself. "—skyrocketed from $0.0002 to $0.90. A shocking rise of 450,000%."

Adam blinked, unable to believe what he was seeing.

Brooklyn wasn't done. "This is one of the most astonishing market reversals ever recorded. Experts are calling it the most unpredictable surge in investment history. Even us on Business Everyday are as shocked as you are..."

She swallowed, squeezing her face in defeat. "We did not see this coming."

Adam exploded to his feet, the woman on his shoulder shifting as he suddenly straightened. 'No! No! No! What is this! What the hell is happening right now?!'

His eyes darted around the television as his grip tightened around his glass. Meanwhile his phone vibrated violently against the table.

The CryptoTracker comments had exploded once again that night.

Mr.MoneyMaker: HOLY SHIT. BITCOIN JUST WENT TO THE MOON!

KayKay8T: I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! IF ONLY WE HADN'T PULLED OUT!

RyanGust: This can't be real. Tell me this isn't real. I made a withdrawal because of the predicted fall!

BeesWax: We got played. Everyone who sold just got played.

Adam scrolled through the comments, heart pounding, eyes shaking. Then, to his horror, he saw people commenting under his earlier comment, even sending him messages.

"ScottishPanda, you bastard! You told us to sell!"

"Bro, you said Bitcoin was dying! I followed your advice! WTF?!"

"Business Everyday is giving us this news like they didn't just make all of us withdraw and miss a big rise! Don't think I've forgotten about you too, ScottishPanda!"

Adam's heart couldn't stop pounding. All he kept thinking was; No, No. This couldn't be possible. There was no way anyone could have predicted this. It was pure luck. No one could have seen this coming. No one—

But wait. FuglyDuckling!

Since that mystery investor hadn't withdrawn his money yet. Did that mean...

Buzz. A new notification.

He looked down at his phone, pulse racing.

FuglyDuckling has just withdrawn a total sum of $928,125 from an investment of $84,500.

He is now CryptoTracker's Investor of the Week.

Adam's vision blurred at the number. Nine hundred and twenty-eight thousand dollars. Nearly a million. The biggest recorded withdrawal in Bitcoin history. And it was made by the same guy everyone had been mocking just minutes ago.

"UNO REVERSSEEEEE!" a comment cried with multiple laughing and crying emojis.

"Did bro just pull a 'It's all part of my plan' on us? Aizen type investor."

"How did he know?! He was the only major investor who held on!"

"Bro, please accept my friend request. Teach me your ways."

"Duckling is a god!"

"Please check DMs sir."

"We called him an idiot but this guy is actually HIM."

Adam was left more crestfallen and in disbelief. His followers were reducing once again in large numbers and FuglyDuckling's was increasing rapidly.

His hands curled into angry fists.

This man! This mystery person! How did they know?! Was he lucky? He was the major investor to keep his investment after the crash! How could he have predicted such a crazy rise!

He kept on scrolling through more and more comments in an unhealthy manner, seeing people praising and kowtowing to this enigmatic persona. All the attention he was getting, it was infuriating!

This guy was taking his spot! And he had made the biggest withdrawal in Bitcoin history in just his first investment! Did that mean he was better than him?

No! No one is a better investor than him!

Adam gritted his teeth. He refused to let it happen. If this FuglyDuckling thought he could waltz in and steal the title of best investor, he had another thing coming.

To prove it, he had to find him. He had to challenge him. He had to take him down.