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The global cryptocurrency market has grown by nearly $ 100 billion over the past week as the price of bitcoin approaches an all-time high.
Bitcoin now ranks as the 19th most valuable asset in the world, ahead of Mastercard and PayPal.
Its current market capitalization of $ 356 billion, up from $ 130 billion this time last year, puts it on par with the world’s largest investment bank, JPMorgan Chase.
Bitcoin accounts for less than two-thirds of the overall cryptocurrency market, which has nearly 4,000 different altcoins and digital currencies.
Among the biggest are Ethereum (ether), Ripple (XRP), bitcoin cash, and litecoin, all of which have made substantial gains over the past seven days.
The price of XRP has more than doubled since last week, while both ether and bitcoin cash have increased in value by over a third.
The extreme market movement has been boosted by strong institutional demand, with top hedge funds and money managers increasingly viewing cryptocurrency as a safe haven during times of economic and geopolitical turmoil. Bitcoin was also boosted by PayPal’s recent announcement to make the cryptocurrency available to its 346 million customers worldwide in early 2021.
All non-stablecoins – cryptocurrencies linked to the fiat currency – continue to be ruined by volatility and remain a speculative asset, although some analysts believe that bitcoin in particular is becoming a form of digital gold.
(CoinMarketCap)
As with many other cryptocurrencies, bitcoin has a limited supply that limits the number of existing btc’s to just 21 million. This means that its price cannot be artificially deflated through measures such as quantitative easing.
Bitcoin was trading above $ 19,000 on Tuesday, less than $ 1,000 from its all-time high in December 2017. As recently as March, a bitcoin could be bought for under $ 5,000.
Many analysts have predicted new record highs before the end of the year, while some argue that current trends suggest there will be more massive gains in 2021.
The volatile history of Bitcoin in pictures
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Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of the multi-billion dollar blockchain project Chainlink, is among those who predict that the value of bitcoin will fivefold in the next 12 months.
“There are two primary forces that we will see driving bitcoin over $ 100,000,” he said The independent.
“Bitcoin is a natural and safe haven for those seeking shelter from the rapid increase in central bank money printing and inflation that everyone agrees already on the rise.
“The second lesser known factor that is accelerating bitcoin’s growth is the growing demand for yield and the rise of ‘decentralized finance’, or ‘DeFi’, the fastest growing sector within the blockchain industry … Now, for the first time in bitcoin’s history and coinciding with a historic rise in inflation; not only can someone buy bitcoin as a hedge against inflation, but they are also able to receive a much greater APR / return than they can. expect to get from traditional finance “.
