The price of the leading cryptocurrency, bitcoin, hit an all-time peak of $20,800. At the time of writing, BTC is changing hands at $20,669. Bitcoin gained more than 170% this year, buoyed by demand from larger institutional investors attracted to its potential for quick gains, purported resistance to inflation, and expectations. It will become a mainstream payment method, as reported by Reuters. Other cryptocurrencies, including ethereum and XRP, which often move in tandem with bitcoin, gained 5.4% and 8.1%, respectively.
Bitcoin breaks above $20,000 for the first time.
This is the first time in bitcoin’s history that its price crossed above the $20,000 mark. There are several factors in play that could have boosted the price of the leading cryptocurrency to surge past the $20,000 mark. Scott Freeman, co-founder & partner at trading firm JST Capital, said that many of their clients have been expecting bitcoin to surpass its all-time high of $20,000 given the recent news from major institutional players like SGX and MassMutual openly endorsing bitcoin. However, bitcoin remains volatile as the coin dropped to as low as $4,000 in March this year.
Crypto community reacts to bitcoin’s fresh all-time high.
Bitcoin recently reached an all-time high at just above $19,600 after a long wait of almost three years. Now the leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization crossed above the massive barrier of $20,000 for the first time. The famous American whistleblower Edward Snowden reacted to bitcoin’s all-time high by tweeting, “One word: Bitcoin.” Snowden had revealed how the American government was spying on its citizens by leaking documents from the National Security Agency. He has been a vocal advocate of online privacy, and bitcoin provides that to users. Tyler Winklevoss also tweeted about bitcoin breaking above the $20,000 mark.
One word: Bitcoin.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) December 16, 2020
