Bitcoin reached to an 18-month high on Wednesday, as a result of restless investors looking for safety in alternative investments and expectations from Facebook’s Libra which could turn cryptocurrencies mainstream, a surge analyst said.
After a distressing 2018, it seems investors are back into market for digital currencies. The world’s biggest cryptocurrency is now up 240% since the start of the year, although still lower than its all-time high of nearly $20,000. It has swollen in value since April and was trading close to $13,000 on Wednesday.
Bitcoin has shown rise for eight consecutive days. Facebook has also announced launch of it’s own cryptocurrency named, the Libra coin, by the end of June 2020. Facebook’s announcement has brought back the long lost-interest in coins, analysts say. At the same time, investors seeking safety has resulted rise in Bitcoin’s price.
Analysts say, that investors have been looking for ways to modify their portfolios including through cryptocurrencies as well, given that major central banks seek to maintain all-time low interest rates.
In the past few days, Bitcoin CME futures volumes have rocketed as investors seek to access the coins via the derivatives market. Bitcoin last traded at $12,430 on the Bitstamp exchange after reaching a high of $12,935 earlier in the Asian session.
The cryptocurrency has escalated about 150% since early May, along with big jumps in other smaller virtual currencies such as Ethereum’s ether and Ripple’s XRP.
