Each morning of this week, Daniel Fortin, from the writing of 

Les Échos

, takes stock of a current economic issue.

Today, he looks back on the new record value reached by the bitcoin cryptocurrency on Sunday.

49,700 dollars is the value reached by bitcoin on Sunday, a new record for the queen of cryptocurrencies, the value of which has certainly not finished climbing.

How do we explain this craze?

"So the main reason is that it is changing its image. In the past, bitcoin was a currency that was a little despised. Its obscure birth and its virtual character even let suspicion of shameful uses like the drug money laundering, for example. Today that is all over. We see more and more respectable institutions taking an interest in it. On Sunday, for example, its course flew on the mere rumor that Morgan Stanley Bank could buy some.

A few days ago, it was Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla who had acquired it for 1.5 billion dollars.

All this demand is causing prices to soar, especially since the number of bitcoin has been voluntarily limited to 21 million units by its creators.

It is therefore a rare product and some financiers even bet that its value could soon reach 100,000 dollars.

But what is the point of buying bitcoin?

To two things.

First, it can become a currency of exchange, like the euro or the dollar, Tesla announced for example that it would offer its customers to sell them cars for bitcoin.

But today, bitcoin is above all a safe haven for some big savers.

It's a bit like gold, at a time when central banks are running the printing press to finance our economies in crisis on credit.

We tell ourselves that after all, bitcoin, given its scarcity, is not at risk of losing its value unlike what could happen with traditional currencies.

So we buy it to protect our savings.

Does bitcoin really have a future?

So bitcoin itself, I can't answer you.

But what it represents, that is to say the digitization of money, without a doubt.

Everyone is seeing it, we are paying less and less with cash.

Tomorrow, the credit card will disappear.

Today, whether in China, the United States or Europe, all central banks are preparing future digital currencies that will be put into circulation.

They will be safer, cheaper to produce and easier to use.

At least that's the bet everyone is making today. "