Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin Price Returns to $10,000+
For the first time in more than a year, the price of a single Bitcoin is now higher than $10,000. While that’s nearly half of its all-time high, it’s more than double where it was late last year and into early this year. So could the world’s largest cryptocurrency be making a comeback?
At the time of this post, Bitcoin is trading for more than $11,000. Bitcoin’s return to the $10k mark comes as interest in cryptocurrencies continues to grow. Most notably, last week Facebook unveiled plans for Libra — a stablecoin that’s being embraced by multiple partners, including Uber, eBay, and others. Speaking to CNBC, Susquehanna digital asset group head Bart Smith said of Libra’s influence on Bitcoin’s pricing, “It’s clearly a positive for Bitcoin. If 2 billion users are on Facebook, some percentage of them start to kind of look at Libra and try to understand how it is different and similar to Bitcoin — that is a positive.”
While it seems that the hype around Libra may be boosting Bitcoin now, the question is whether that will be the case once the coin actually launches. Given the large backing and comparative practicality of Libra, it’s very possible that the mainstream attention that Bitcoin enjoyed will soon turn elsewhere. However, to that point, VP of product for Facebook’s Calibra — the planned wallet for Libra — David Marcus said in a tweet, “Many want to pit Libra vs. Bitcoin. In my mind these two are not in the same category. BTC is a decorrelated (investment) asset. Libra is designed to be a stable medium-of-exchange. I have been, and remain a fan of BTC, but for very different purposes.”
Of course, speaking on investment, the trajectory of Bitcoin has been famously rocky. After reaching nearly $20,000 in late 2017, the value of the coin has dipped to almost $3,000. As Newton Investment Management global equity portfolio manager Paul Markham noted to CNN Business, “The appeal of bitcoin is still too limited for the average investor. It’s very risky and the volatility has been extreme.”
With Bitcoin now back over $10,000 the question becomes what is the next milestone? Obviously the previous high of $20,000 is one target, while others are holding out hope that the asset could eventually reach $100k. In any case, hopefully Bitcoin can sustain this latest rise and hold onto it well beyond Libra’s debut.
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