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Bitcoin’s blazing rally continued as the cryptocurrency breached the US$50,000-mark for the first time since its inception over 12 years ago.
The crypto giant hit its all-time high price of US$ 50,584.85 on Tuesday morning (February 16) after media reports indicated that Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is the latest market giant to allow bitcoin use on its network.
The token is up about 60 per cent year-to-date. Its 24-hour return, as per Coinbase, is three per cent at 8:12 am ET on Tuesday.
Ether, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, also hit its all-time high of US$ 1,874.93 on Friday. The token is up about 147 per cent this year.
Crypto Goes Mainstream
The hype around alternate digital currencies and ‘mysterious’ cryptos has been going on for a while. But sometime in 2020, as the world battled the pandemic and global financial ecosystems crumbled, investors interest in cryptocurrencies surged.
By the end of last year, bitcoin embarked on a milestone-making spree, breaching its own records in weeks and sometimes in just a few days. This latest US$ 50,000-mark milestone came withing 48 hours after it touched its previous all-time high on February 14.
The massive surge comes close on the heels of Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) US$1.5-billion investment, unlocking an unprecedented chapter in the crypto’s life so far. The EV maker will allow buyers of its cars to pay in BTC.
Tweets by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who went from dismissing the crypto to hollering out in its support, has also had a significant impact on bitcoin.
Investors’ confidence also grew by five other critical developments, beginning with Paypal’s (NYSE:PPYL) announcement of allowing bitcoin on its platform last year. This was followed by Square’s (NYSE:SQ) US$ 50 million investment in the cryptocurrency.
Last week, Mastercard Inc. (NYSE:MA) and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE:BK) announced that they would allow customers use cryptocurrencies on their platform from 2021.
And now Apple Pay users too can spend bitcoin through the app.
Meanwhile, Mr Musk has been drumming up interest in another small meme-based cryptocurrency Dogecoin. His tweets in favor of the coin directly impacted its growth and the token has returned over 950 per cent year-to-date.
Whether bitcoin signifies the birthing of a new asset class or the greatest bubble of all time, only time will tell.
But for now, it seems that bitcoin is on the move to hit a market capitalization of US$1 trillion, which will be attained at around US$53,650-mark.
