On Wednesday, Bitcoin reached the legendary milestone of passing the $20 000 price. Due to the uncertainty connected to the pandemic, bitcoin alongside gold or platinum have reached record-high levels. On Thursday morning, the cryptocurrency set a new all-time high by surpassing its Wednesday score and reaching $22 765.
Bitcoin’s Performance After Debuting On Wall Street
After debuting on Wall Street at the end of 2017, the price of bitcoin has increased massively, from under $1000 in January of that year to just under in December of 2017. However, the buzz around bitcoin becoming tradable was not long-lived and the price fell dramatically in the few months after the cryptocurrency’s debut. By the end of 2018, the price of bitcoin was under $4000.
Gaining More Than 200% In A Few Months
The most known cryptocurrency in the world has gained almost 200% over the course of 2020. Their spectacular result from Wednesday has now set their market cap to $384 billion.
Bitcoin is highly volatile and thus it is not uncommon to see huge movements in the course of weeks, it is still a very speculative investment source. However, with more than 300 000 daily transactions, its popularity is growing and while it has not reached the popularity of the traditional transaction methods, there are steadily more businesses that are accepting bitcoin payments.
Expectations Towards Bitcoin
We must remember that Bitcoin has launched a little over a decade ago. While it cannot be compared to payment options that have been available for decades, it would be wrong to underestimate its impact. The recent growth of the currency is also caused by the expectations of bitcoin reaching the role of a mainstream payment method.
Investors’ Increasing Faith In Bitcoin
Moreover, several Wall Street firms started to allocate some small amounts of their portfolio to bitcoin. Few influential investors such as Paul Tudor Jones or Stan Druckenmiller have done the same and publicly commented on it which has furtherly driven the interest for bitcoin.
Another factor that stands behind bitcoin share sugaring is the October announcement by PayPal that will add an option of paying with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, as well as buying of the cryptocurrencies through both PayPal and Venmo.
Is It Just A Start Of Bitcoin?
Reuters reports that the CGO at Ziglu, a digital Forex platform, has spoken out about the personal money apps focusing their efforts on providing people with easy, fast, convenient, and highly secure access to cryptocurrency. “Wider adoption will grow the value of bitcoin, even more, this is just the start,” he said.
Not only Paypal has been positive towards the future of bitcoin. Square has added the feature for buying bitcoin to its app already in 2018. Some investors go as far as suggesting that bitcoin and other types of cryptocurrency can go as far as replacing gold.
Viable Gold Alternative
CNN reports that an investment strategist at CoinShares, James Butterfill supports this view. He says, “Volumes last week were 70% above the year daily average … suggesting greater participation in this rally than has historically been the case. It is worth taking note that investors are beginning to see bitcoin as a viable gold alternative.”
