Within the realm of social science, \"the madness of the crowd\" is typically exhibited by a contagion of emotion - members of the crowd take on the intense excitement or anger of those around them and lose all rational capacities.

Fred Dopfel, Co-chairman of the Investment Committee, recently referenced the concept when discussing the new crowd of techies who have their hearts heavily invested in the new crypto dream. Could it be fair to say that their investments are misguided and that they have been swept up in the excitement of the crowd, ignoring the need for a more thorough risk-adverse analysis of where crypto may potentially end up?

He argues that common sense suggests that one should only invest in a product that boasts a reasonable price. Lamentations aside, Dopfel decided to undertake his own experiment in crypto mining and reported them for a piece in the North Bay Business Journal in detail.

In his own experiments, Dopfel deduced that crypto mining was an energy-intensive process that left him little in the way of profit. He also noted that profit analysis suggested that the current price of bitcoin was too high, as potentially anyone could make a profit from it, making him sceptical about whether or not it was a worthwhile investment.