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Bitcoin, ether hit fresh highs

Bitcoin hit a fresh high in Asian trading on Saturday, extending a two-month rally that saw its market capitalisation cross $1 trillion a day earlier.

The world’s most popular cryptocurrency rose to an record $56,620, taking its weekly gain to 18%. It has surged more than 92% this year.

Bitcoin’s gains have been fuelled by evidence it is gaining acceptance among mainstream investors and companies, such as Tesla Inc, Mastercard Inc and BNY Mellon.

Bitcoin Scales $58K for First Time; YTD Gain Over 98%

Bitcoin (BTC) on Sunday set a new high water mark of $58,332.36, bringing the leading cryptocurrency’s year-to-date gain to over 100% less than two months into the year. For all of 2020, BTC rose 305%.

At press time, the price settled back to $58,148.31, up 2.3% over the last 24 hours, and cutting the YTD gain to over 98%.

Some are attributing the eye-popping rise to tremendous demand from buyers looking to hedge against inflation as governments keep spending and central banks keep printing money in a desperate effort to keep their economies afloat during the pandemic.

Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization and daily volume, hit a record $2,040.62, for a weekly gain of about 12%.

Ether is the digital currency or token that facilitates transactions on the ethereum blockchain. In the crypto world, the terms ether and ethereum have become interchangeable.

Ether futures contracts launched on derivatives exchange CME earlier this month.

Bitcoin hits $1 trillion in market value as cryptocurrency surge continues

The price of bitcoin crossed another major milestone Friday, as the cryptocurrency’s market value surpassed $1 trillion, according to Coindesk.

The digital currency was trading at just under $54,000 per coin Friday as it hit the new level, and rose above $55,000 later in the session for a daily gain of more than 6%, according to Coin Metrics. The price of bitcoin has now gained about 360% over the past six months. Before the recent surge, the digital asset has never traded above $20,000.

The move has been fueled in part by increased adoption of bitcoin by major investors and companies. The oldest bank in the United States, the Bank of New York Mellon, announced earlier this month that it was moving into the space. Elon Musk’s Tesla converted some of its balance sheet cash into bitcoin earlier this year and said it would start accepting the digital tokens as payment.

Reference: CNBC, Reuters