The price of Bitcoin on Wednesday skyrocket to over $18,000, taking its market capitalization to an all-time high of $336 billion.
The price of the digital token upped 2.5% to $18,147 in the early hours of today, and its price is up about 154% year-to-date.
Bitcoin recorded its highest price ever in December 2017, hitting $19,783.
According to data from Coin Gecko, the digital asset’s market capitalization has hit a new high of $336 billion, eclipsing its previous record of $328 billion set in late 2017.
The currency’s latest price spike began in October of 2020, after PayPal made announcement that it would allow its users to buy, sell, and hold the cryptocurrency token.
Antoni Trenchev, co-founder and managing partner at crypto lender Nexo, made a comment on the price spike, he said:
“A few recent events have undoubtedly had an impact. Institutional investment by the likes of MicroStrategy and Square, PayPal actively shilling crypto, and the bitcoin halving in May were likely causes for bitcoin’s continual rise.”
Some experts are of the opinion that global events such as COVID-19 and negative interest rates in traditional markets, such as Germany, are the rather strange reasons for bitcoin’s meteoric rise this year.
Ki Young Ju, CEO at analytics firm CryptoQuant said “Interest rates are the most important factor in people’s decisions on where to deposit money.”
Ki Young Ju continued to say that he is “sure negative interest rates will drive adoption in crypto, whether it’s direct purchasing crypto/index funds, or using staking services.”
According to a report published by CNN, Mike Novogratz, who runs crypto asset firm Galaxy Digital, told CNBC on Wednesday that he thinks Bitcoin prices could climb as high as $60,000 next year.
A Bitcoin strategist at Citi also wrote in a report this week that it was possible for bitcoin to soar all the way to $318,000 by the end of 2021.
While bitcoin is fast approaching its Dec. 17, 2017 all-time high of $19,666, ether also broke new 2020 heights above $488 to stand at $489 by press time.
