Bitcoin continued its blistering start through 2021, crossing $ 40,000 for the first time on Thursday.
The price traded as high as $ 40,324, according to CoinDesk, up 14% on the day and a whopping 38% on a year that is only seven days old. However, the digital currency did not hold the $ 40,000 level for long. It came in at $ 39,595.92, up 10%.
Bitcoin’s rally has been turbocharged in recent days – it surpassed $ 30,000 for the first time on Saturday, then $ 36,000 and $ 37,000 on Wednesday, before hitting three new $ 1,000 milestones on Thursday.
“Meetings like these that are managed by FOMO [fear of missing out] alone, with loose logic applied later, are not sustainable, ”said Oanda analyst Craig Erlam. “But they can certainly deliver extraordinary returns in the meantime.”
Bitcoin’s price has been on the rise in tandem with stocks, emerging markets and commodity prices for months as investors have flocked to riskier assets in response to aggressive central banks’ monetary policies to combat the economic collapse triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.