The winter of 2017 was spectacular for the cryptocurrency markets, which reached an unprecedented high. 2017 Google Trends indicated how hot Bitcoin was last year -- it was the second most searched topic under the global news category, while "How to buy bitcoin" was the third most sought-after "how to" question. Then, in an equally spectacular manner, bitcoin crashed and has lost 70% of its value ever since.  

Today, the cryptocurrency is at $8,000. Does this ring a bell? It certainly takes you back to another boom and bust that shook the tech world and the financial market -- the dot-com boom and bust.  

On March 10, 2000, the dot-com bubble had reached a crescendo. From there on the markets tanked. How far down did they go? Here are some examples: Cisco dropped by 86%. Qualcomm, which had grown 2619% in 1999, came crashing down as well. Their valuations were destroyed in the coming months.  

By the end of the stock market downturn of 2002, stocks had lost $5 trillion in market capitalization since their peak. At its trough on October 9, 2002, the NASDAQ-100 had droppedto 1,114, down 78% from its peak.