A major Coronation Street storyline this week is bringing crypto to an audience of eight million people.
Episodes on Monday, tonight (Wednesday) and Friday are charting the dramatic rise and fall of digital currencies.
It marks the moment that the blockchain-based altcoins entered into the UK’s mainstream consciousness, although viewers will not be any more enlightened about a technology that has the potential to change the world.
On Monday long-time character Ryan Connor remembered that years back he bought into a cryptocurrency called ‘Whipcoin’ – no prizes for guessing what this name is based on – and heads online to find that his investment is now worth £250,000, or so he believes.
In a plot familiar to avid readers of tabloid newspaper websites, he cannot remember the password to his account and goes in search of a copy of Paul Gascoigne autobiography ‘Gazza: My Story’, which he believes contains the key information.
On Friday he remembers the password – but finds out that the value of his ‘Whipcoin’ is far lower than his research, which was out of date, suggested, owing to the ongoing prolonged crypto crash.
To find out how much it is actually worth, you’ll have to watch on Friday…