Bitcoin’s price soared above $ 15,000 on Thursday, reaching a level not seen since January 2018 due to the uncertainty of the US presidential election.
The world’s best-known cryptocurrency was last traded with a nearly 9% rise at a price of $ 15,233, according to data from industry website CoinDesk.
Bitcoin was in crisis in 2020, more than doubling in value since the beginning of the year. Its soaring rise comes in the wake of unprecedented stimulus from global governments and central banks during the coronavirus pandemic, which some industry insiders believe made the virtual currency more attractive than fiat currencies like the dollar.
“The creation of Bitcoin was partly due to fears that the increased fiscal stimulus is devaluing currencies globally,” said Simon Peters, a cryptocurrency analyst at the investment platform eToro. “Consequently, when central banks announce sweeping plans to pump money into economies, many investors in the crypto community see it as an important signal to buy bitcoin.”
Investors are awaiting the latest monetary policy announcement from the Federal Reserve, with the US central bank expected to keep overnight rates close to zero and reiterate the need for more fiscal stimulus.
But persistent uncertainty over the outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election means that another coronavirus stimulus package is unlikely to be agreed in the near term.
“With the US elections gradually drawing to a close, the details of a fiscal stimulus may become clearer. Any such package could see a weakening of the US dollar and further increases in the price of bitcoin in the future,” Peters said.
Meanwhile, analysts have cheered on PayPal and Facebook’s moves into the cryptocurrency space lately.
PayPal said it will allow its customers to buy and sell digital assets like bitcoin and ether through its digital wallet and eventually use them for shopping, while Facebook is developing its libra digital currency with a Swiss-based consortium called Libra. Association.
However, regulators continue to control the cryptocurrency industry. The Bitcoin network does not require a central authority to maintain it, and officials have expressed concern about its use in illicit transactions. On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice said it had seized $ 1 billion worth of bitcoin believed to be linked to Silk Road, the now defunct online black market.
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