Bitcoin's face-melting rally has continued today.
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Bitcoin prices continued climbing today, surpassing $40,00 for the first time in history as the cryptocurrency market kept breaking records.
The world’s most prominent digital currency rose to as much as $40,324.01 around 1 p.m. EST, according to CoinDesk data.
At this point, bitcoin was up more than 900% in less than a year, after falling below $4,000 in March 2020, additional CoinDesk figures show.
Further, the digital asset has more than doubled the previous all-time high of $19,783.21 established during the 2017-2018 bull market.
[Ed note: Investing in cryptocoins or tokens is highly speculative and the market is largely unregulated. Anyone considering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment.]
“Bitcoin is rising in the eye of a perfect storm,” said Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Bitfinex, who stressed that the current environment of widespread macroeconomic uncertainty could “devalue fiat currencies.”
He also noted that while institutional investors have been increasingly signaling their adoption of bitcoin, retail investors may follow suit, flocking to the innovative digital asset “as the market cap of all cryptocurrencies reaches $1 trillion for the first time.”
Diogo Monica, cofounder and president of Anchorage, also weighed in, emphasizing that during the current bull market, bitcoin has been drawing the funds of both retail and institutional investors.
This situation contrasts with the run up that the digital asset experienced between 2017 and 2018, which was largely attributed to factors like retail interest and substantial media coverage, variables that helped fuel a rather impressive rally.
While the cryptocurrency has experienced some compelling gains since hitting a recent bottom in March 2020, it could easily enjoy further upside, according to analysts who have made highly bullish predictions.
Going forward, bitcoin’s price could eventually break through $100,000 “as both retail and institutional investors alike” recognize both its value as an inflation hedge and its utility in DeFi applications, said Sergey Nazarov, cofounder of Chainlink.
Disclosure: I own some bitcoin, bitcoin cash, litecoin, ether and EOS.
