After topping the $20,000 mark on Wednesday, the leading cryptocurrency bitcoin continued to surge late into the evening. At the time of writing, bitcoin is changing hands at just above $22,200. This is new territory for the bitcoin’s price as it never surged past $20,000 in its ten years of existence. Michael Sonnenshein, managing director of Grayscale Investments, said that it’s not a surprise that Bitcoin has hit $20K, but it is a very symbolic threshold to reach at the end of what has been a historic year for bitcoin. “These are just the early days, and we think there’s a lot more runway to go,” he added.
Bitcoin continues to surge to new highs.
On Wednesday, bitcoin’s price surpassed the $20,000 mark for the first time and continued to surge past $22,000 at the time of writing. With the Federal Reserve expected to leave interest rates near zero for several more years, the cryptocurrency may continue to win new fans. A top executive at BlackRock has even said the cryptocurrency could replace gold, and payments giants Square and PayPal have both embraced bitcoin.
Bitcoin is expected to follow an upward trajectory.
“Volumes last week were 70% above the year daily average-suggesting greater participation in this rally than has historically been the case,” said James Butterfill, investment strategist at CoinShares. “It is worth taking note that investors are beginning to see bitcoin as a viable gold alternative,” he added. The price of the leading cryptocurrency is expected to continue to rise in the short-term. The US dollar continued its downward trend after the Fed delivered its final interest rate decision of the year. As widely expected, the bank left interest rates between 0% and 0.25%.
