Chances are pretty good that you have heard the term cryptocurrency. You may even own some.

A new Quinnipiac poll shows about 43 percent of Americans believe cryptocurrency will be an economic force in the future.

Christopher Mediate of Mediate Financial Services agrees.

"I've noticed in my practice the conversation happens a lot of whether people should actually get in on it and the part of the reason is people have this FOMO, or fear of missing out, so it is absolutely here to stay and yes I do think it is going to be a big economic boom," Mediate said.

Cryptocurrency is a digital currency that is decentralized, meaning no government or bank can determine its value. It's based on supply and demand. There are thousands of cryptocurrency, but Bitcoin is the most popular. Because it is decentralized though, crypto is highly volatile.

"It's probably the highest risk, high reward right now that we have that we are seeing," Mediate said. "You will see price movements as much as 15% in a day. You could see movements of 90% over a period of months so it is extremely volatile and you have to pay very close attention and you have to have what we would always call is a strong stomach to be part of it."

Because of that instability, Mediate doesn't see crypto taking over for the dollar as U.S. currency anytime soon.

"I like to use the example, if you have 50 dollars in your wallet today, you know what 50 dollars can buy you," Mediate said. "You can go to the store and do the math and know what you are getting right, with Bitcoin or something like that, it's so volatile that with what I own today, that 50 dollars might be worth 25 tomorrow so when it's that kind of volatility, it's really hard for me to believe that it would take over or replace the dollar or somehow replace currency as a whole. I look at it like investing in technology more than I look at like investing in currency."

A lot of people are investing in it though and Mediate says just be careful.

"We have to be very careful right because it's very volatile, very risky and when we're in that conversation we have to always make sure the client is aware that they can only or should only risk or invest what they are willing to lose right because it is not something for everybody and so we have to really analyze whether this makes sense because again it doesn't make sense for everybody," Mediate said. "We have to look at where does it fit, it's not the get rich scheme that we see on TV all the time because people want to be a part of it, they think they want to be the next Bitcoin millionaire and again there are approaches in the financial services industry that we are seeing. There are lot of studies out here that are starting to make it relevant, the key is, we just need to know how do we hold it as part of someone's portfolio and that is where it get's interesting."

What about the older generation or retirees?

"Do you really need it, is it something you need to make part of it right because again I deal with a lot of retirees and again that conversation, I just left a meeting probably 20 minutes before we did this and the question was asked what do you think about this crypto and should I be part of it," Mediate said. "For older people, you got to look at where your risk tolerance is, where you are, what it is, what your goal is really, what are you trying to do. Are you trying to add this as helping balance your portfolio or trying to get rich quick, do you really understand it and advice that I always give is know what you own and why you own it so you need to know whether or not it should be part of your portfolio."

With high profile NFL stars recently taking their NFL salaries in Bitcoin, it doesn't appear this cryptocurrency trend is going away anytime soon.

"Tom Brady right now is doing a transaction to get his football and it's all via Bitcoin because people are thinking I'm giving you something today that could be monumentally different down the road," Mediate said. "I mean Goldman Sachs is thinking they could see Bitcoin at $100,000 this year so when you start seeing numbers like that, that is where you have people fear of missing out, that is why everyone wants to get involved in it because you're seeing this big explosion and you see those numbers, it's hard to ignore, it really is."