Bitcoin (BTC) – which has grown more than three times in value since the end of 2020 – has been propelled by well-known companies embracing crypto as a form of payment and broadly outperforming conventional asset classes.
Early Saturday, the BTC/USD pair was changing hands at $59,781, after hitting a fresh all-time peak of $60,322.60, figures by CoinDesk show. The anticipated strong rally marks a 1,000% gain for bitcoin in the past 12 months.
The new record high for the world’s most sought-after crypto comes after a relatively dormant period for the digital asset whose gains have been tied to greater use by a host of big-name institutional investors.
Bitcoin’s spike above $60,000 also indicates that the crypto has taken less than a month to register another $10,000 milestone, after reaching $50,000 in the middle of February this year. Currently, bitcoin has a robust market capitalization of more than $1.1 trillion.
Top financial groups are helping to boost bitcoin’s appeal. Payments giants PayPal and Square allowed their users to buy and sell the asset. Credit card processing Mastercard and Visa are also adopting cryptocurrencies. Bank of New York Mellon and BlackRock have also started to explore bitcoin.
The ongoing global health crisis has also contributed to bitcoin’s price rally, as more people go online to shop, moving further away from physical coins and notes.
However, other prominent investors remain doubtful about bitcoin. Berkshire Hathaway chairman and chief executive Warren Buffett has slammed the crypto as a “rat poison squared” and a worthless investment.
The “Oracle of Omaha” warned that cryptocurrencies would one day come to a bad end. “I don’t have any bitcoin. I don’t own any cryptocurrency, I never will,” Buffet told CNBC last year.
Image courtesy of Karolina Grabowska/Pexels
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