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This comic is the sixth comic in a series of comics (with at least six in a row) about the 2020 pandemic of the coronavirus - SARS-CoV-2.And again, the Covid-19 series at Explain XKCD
White Hat, who lives in 2010, and Cueball, who lives in 2020, are in contact with each other via some kind of time travel. White Hat wants to learn about life in 2020 and is particularly interested in bitcoin, a decentralized cryptocurrency which was released in 2009, and whether it had become an acceptable currency. Cueball answers that bitcoin still exists, and that he just bought a bottle of hand sanitizer for the price of one bitcoin. White Hat probably assumes that bitcoin is a widely accepted currency worth a few dollars, and thinks that the situation is "normal". (In April 2010, one bitcoin was worth about 14 cents.)
At the time of this comic, the SARS-CoV-2 virus, commonly known as "the coronavirus", is spreading around the world, causing thousands of people to die and billions to panic. This increased the demand for hygiene products, including hand sanitizers, and therefore their price has increased. It also triggered a panic on financial markets, including severe devaluation of the infamously volatile bitcoin. Despite the crash, one bitcoin was still worth about $5,400 on the day this strip was published, not a few dollars. Therefore, buying a hand sanitizer for one bitcoin is not as normal as White Hat assumes....MUCH MORE
