TOKYO – The price of Bitcoin digital currency reached $ 30,000 for the first time on Saturday, riding a wave of investment into the new year.
The blockchain-based currency was trading at $ 32,363, with a 24-hour gain of more than 10%, according to cryptocurrency regulator Coindesk.
Since crossing the $ 20,000 threshold on Dec. 16, the currency has gained more than $ 10,000 in value. Bitcoin market capitalization is now at $ 600 billion, according to Coindesk.
Bitcoin has benefited from a global movement of investment money released by cash discounts. The recent rally is marked by an active flow of institutional investors, highlighting the digital money into the mainstream.
Since its inception about 10 years ago, Bitcoin has ridden high and low roller. The currency was created and is exchanged independently from banks or governments.
Along with other so-called cryptocurrencies, it uses blockchain technology, which acts as a series of digital “blocks” containing records of transactions. Each such block is connected to the previous ones and behind it, making it difficult to drag because to do so one would have to change the block containing that table and all a person attached to it to avoid detection.
Like real money, bitcoin trading continued over the New Year holidays while stock and bond markets closed. Ethereum, another major cryptocurrency, was trading at $ 775 for a one-day gain of more than 5%.
While some observers say the market is overheating, not all interest is speculative.
In a bid for real demand for the frontier currency, online payments provider PayPal said in October that it would allow customers to use cryptocurrencies to buy at 26 million connected sellers from early 2021.
This news helped lift Bitcoin above the $ 16,000 mark for the first time in nearly three years.