Bitcoin rose to a new all-time high above $ 33,000 on Saturday and has tripled in value over the past year.
Investors are drawn to the cryptocurrency as the US dollar has weakened and as the Federal Reserve is expected to keep interest rates close to zero for several years, household names are adding to bitcoin’s appeal.
Bitcoin BTCUSD,
should eventually rise to about $ 400,000, Scott Minerd, Guggenheim Investments chief investment officer, said in December.
Investors were drawn to the story that the cryptocurrency could act as a storehouse for wealth amid the unbridled pressure from the central bank over the past year to support an economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
PayPal PYPL recently allowed users on its platform to buy bitcoin BTCUSD,
as well as other sister cryptos such as ethereum ETHUSD Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin LTCUSD. Square SQ’s popular Cash app also allows users to buy and sell bitcoins.
This isn’t the first bitcoin price spike. It rallied in 2017, but the price dropped to just over $ 3,000 in early 2019 as China cracked down on cryptocurrency firms. It then shot above $ 20,000 in December and rose rapidly in the past month.
Still, Bitcoin remains a barely traded market, and the rally in 2017 was followed by an 83% collapse that lasted a year.
Coinbase saw a major spike in buyer activity on Saturday, with analysts saying the trend was reminiscent of MicroStrategy’s MSTR,
Bitcoin accumulation, possibly fueled by institutional buy orders, according to CoinTelegraph.
Over the past 48 hours, Coinbase has consistently seen a high premium compared to other platforms. When bitcoin’s price surpassed $ 30,000, its premium even hit $ 350.
Also seeAs bitcoin soars to records, Riot Blockchain’s stock is up nearly 1,500% in 2020