On Tuesday, February 16, the bitcoin rate renewed its all-time high.
During the trades, the price of the cryptocurrency grew by almost 6% and for the first time during the entire observation period reached $ 50.5 thousand per coin.
This is evidenced by the data of the CoinDesk portal.
Note that bitcoin has risen in price by almost 53% since the beginning of the month.
One of the main reasons for the skyrocketing prices was the reaction of investors to Tesla's announcement.
In a report released on February 8, the electric vehicle manufacturer announced the purchase of bitcoins in the amount of $ 1.5 billion and plans to introduce a digital asset as a means of payment for its products.
According to experts, the appearance of a large business representative on the cryptocurrency market was a positive signal for investors.
Moreover, one of the leading American banks, Bank of New York Mellon, has already followed Tesla's example.
On February 11, the company announced plans to create a division to help customers work with digital assets.
Against the backdrop of this news, investors are counting on the increasingly widespread use of digital coins in the future and are already starting to actively invest in cryptocurrency.
Vitaly Kirpichev, Development Director of TradingView in Russia, told RT about this.
“If earlier such events occurred with a frequency of once a year, now they appear several times a month.
If this trend is supported by other large financial institutions, the $ 100 thousand mark for bitcoin looks quite realistic on the horizon of the next 12 months, "Kirpichev stressed.
As Anatoly Knyazev, the co-founder of EXANTE, noted in an interview with RT, the growing flow of money into the cryptocurrency market is partly due to the approval of Bitcoin ETFs in Canada and Australia.
We are talking about the creation of special funds, the securities of which will be traded on the exchange at the bitcoin price.
In addition, the structural features of the digital coin also have a positive impact on the value of bitcoin.
This point of view in an interview with RT was expressed by Artyom Tuzov, executive director of the capital market department of the investment company "Univer Capital".
The main cryptocurrency exists on the basis of blockchain technology - a single database that contains information about all previously carried out transactions.
The emission of bitcoins occurs due to mining - solving complex mathematical problems and the appearance of a new block in the blockchain network.
Each such block is an array of data, where information about the transactions carried out after the creation of the previous block is entered.
Miners receive bitcoins as a reward for solving the problem.
At the moment, more than 18.63 million bitcoins have already been "mined" in this way.
At the same time, according to the idea of the developers, unlike the endlessly printed paper money, the number of bitcoins is limited and can be a maximum of 21 million crypto coins.
“As a result, the limited supply of bitcoins on the market, combined with the rush of demand, is becoming an incentive for further appreciation of the cryptocurrency,” explained Artyom Tuzov.
Aggravated risks
According to Artyom Tuzov, the coronavirus pandemic continues to provide some support to the bitcoin price.
So, back in 2020, against the backdrop of the spread of COVID-19 and the fall in world GDP, many large investors began to buy up cryptocurrency to more reliably save their funds, the expert explained.
Against this background, the further dynamics of the value of an electronic coin will largely depend on the situation in the global economy.
“Now there are two options for the development of events.
Bitcoin may rise in price in the near future - up to $ 52-53 thousand. At the same time, if the global economy is recovering quickly, investors will begin to fix profits and withdraw money from the cryptocurrency.
In this case, the rate runs the risk of falling to $ 20-25 thousand, "Tuzov emphasized.
Reuters
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Recall that for the first time the excitement of the cryptocurrency market occurred in 2017.
Then, from January to December, bitcoin rose in price more than 20 times - from $ 900 to $ 20 thousand - and even managed to briefly enter the top five largest currencies in the world.
However, even then, many economists began to talk seriously about the threat of another financial bubble.
Experts' fears were confirmed in 2018, when the cost of bitcoin collapsed by almost 80% - from $ 20 thousand per coin to $ 3-4 thousand. money, and the strengthening of global industry regulation.
“The possible tightening of legislation by regulators in relation to cryptocurrencies today can again become a reason for a market collapse.
So far, the new American administration has not clearly indicated its position, but it is likely that now there is a process of analyzing what is happening for the presence of systemic risks from the cryptocurrency rally, "said Anatoly Knyazev.
However, even in the event of a new collapse in prices, the cryptocurrency market will continue to grow in the long term, experts are sure.
So, investing in digital assets allows you to protect money from inflation and a number of other financial risks.
“The fact is that bitcoin is a unique asset that, according to the idea of its creators, cannot disappear like a bankrupt business. This is a technology for transferring value without the participation of intermediaries, which is and will most likely remain with us forever - whether we like it or not, ”concluded Vitaly Kirpichev.