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Bitcoin’s price hit an all-time high of nearly $ 20,000 three years after the cryptocurrency last climbed to that level.
One bitcoin was worth $ 19,850.11 (£ 14,880) on Monday afternoon, according to CoinDesk, a bitcoin price index. Its value dropped to around $ 19,223 on Monday evening.
Demand for bitcoin surged in November, with its supporters citing the growing interest of institutional investors in the digital asset, which was only invented in late 2008 by an as-yet-anonymous developer.
Bitcoin graphics
The cryptocurrency, which relies on a decentralized ledger, called the blockchain, to record and verify transactions, has experienced wild price swings during its short history, although its fans insist it will disrupt the traditional financial world.
The last time bitcoin got close to $ 20,000, in December 2017, it crashed spectacularly, losing a quarter of its value in a single day before dropping well below the $ 4,000 mark at the end of the year. 2018. However, this still represented a dramatic increase in value from prices measured in the hundreds of dollars in 2016 and just the cents in 2008.
Over the course of 2020, the value of the cryptocurrency increased by approximately 170%. It was only up 6% on Monday, but its price has increased by $ 2,000 since Friday, demonstrating its extreme volatility.
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The invention of bitcoin sparked a series of imitators hoping to enter the financial world, as well as a number of get-rich-quick schemes. It has also caused significant environmental damage, with the computing power being used to “mine” new bitcoins by solving increasingly complicated mathematical puzzles comparable to those of small countries.
Tyler Winklevoss, a venture capitalist who was the first bitcoin billionaire publicly identified along with his twin brother, wrote that he believes a single bitcoin could possibly be worth $ 500,000 as it takes on an increasing role in the global financial system. On Monday, Winklevoss tweeted: “On and on let’s go to the moon!”
Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda, an exchange firm, said: “Bitcoin and all major altcoins are recovering strongly, and it appears that the momentum of trade is strengthening as the mass media embraces crypto coverage.”
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