There are a variety of reasons why cryptocurrencies have become popular. Here are some of the most popular: 1. Many have touted them as the currency of the future seeing their many use cases and the way they amass value over time. This is a reason for the race to buy them. 2. The decentralized system removes central bank control from managing the supply. This is particularly important given that these financial institutions tend to reduce the value of money via inflation. 3. The speed of processing transactions and the security guaranteed by the system.