Bitcoin prices on Sunday approached a psychological milestone at around $ 50,000.
The weekend move pushed the world’s No. 1 digital asset to a new all-time high of $ 49,716.44, according to CoinDesk, adding to a steady grind to record highs as more attention and more institutional investment in cryptos has delivered a happy short term for the virtual market.
Bitcoin’s BTCUSD,
higher momentum has driven it to year-to-date earnings of more than 64%, compared to a 2.8% rise for the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA
an advance of 4.8% for the S&P 500 index SPX,
and a 9.4% rally for the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP,
until now in 2021.
While there is no specific news helping to increase profits for bitcoins, the rally comes as it seems to be actively gaining momentum and the attention of the traditional investment community is increasing.
Over the weekend, Bloomberg News, citing famous people, reported that a Morgan Stanley MS,
The asset management unit Counterpoint Global was in the process of buying cryptos for its investors.
That report comes after The Wall Street Journal said earlier last week that Bank of New York Mellon, BK would hold, transfer and issue bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on behalf of its clients.
“Digital assets are becoming part of the mainstream,” Roman Regelman, chief executive of BNY Mellon’s asset servicing and digital operations, told WSJ.
In addition, last Wednesday, Mastercard MA,
said it would support certain cryptocurrencies on its network later this year and Tesla Inc. TSLA,
said it bought $ 1.5 billion worth of bitcoin and would eventually allow customers to use the cryptocurrency to buy its products.
Read: Why did Tesla buy bitcoin?
Also see: Why is dogecoin falling? The cryptocurrency is down 20% from Monday’s record
PayPal Holdings Inc. PYPL,
in November, its cryptocurrency platform opened to all US customers after a narrower rollout.
Several high-profile Wall Street investors, including Stanley Druckenmiller and Paul Tudor Jones, have also embraced bitcoin. Famed investor Bill Miller, founder of Miller Value Partners, recently confirmed his optimistic view of bitcoin in a letter to customers.
Certainly recent developments do not guarantee an uninterrupted climb higher for bitcoins and other cryptos. In late 2017, bitcoin’s price, which approached nearly $ 20,000, was an epic collapse, slipping to a low of around $ 3,000 before rebounding years later.
Bullish investors also note that further gains for the asset may depend on help from regulators in establishing clear investor protections and rules for the use of cryptos, which are sometimes seen as a tool for scammers rather than a medium of exchange and a hold-up of value. such as gold GC00,