Reminds me of Aluminium.

• Literally everywhere since the dawn of time.
• Impervious to fire, so couldn't smelt it for thousands of years.
• Electricity invented, and can now separate small amounts of it
• Worth more than gold, crown jewels made of it
• Market valuation keeps increasing
• New technique involving sodium allows us to extract large quantities of it
• Market valuation nosedives to nothing in a single day
• We use it to wrap food and drink cans with, and then we chuck it

Can you imagine being an investor back then