Bitcoin, the world’s # 1 cryptocurrency, market value tops $1 trillion for first time ever as crypto price soars.
The following written content by Mark DeCambre
The world’s No. 1 cryptocurrency hit a record high on Friday, propelling it to a market value above $1 trillion for the first time ever.
A single bitcoin BTCUSD, 4.82% jumped to a record at $$53,910.44, based on prices tracked by CoinDesk, briefly bringing its total market capitalization to a peak at $1,002,547,798,785, according to data from research company CoinMarketCap.com.
Bitcoin was last up 4% on Friday at around $53,734, and has surged over 85% since the beginning of 2021. By comparison, gold prices GC00, 0.29%, which bitcoin often competes against for investment dollars, are down nearly 6% so far this year.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index SPX, 0.10% is looking at a year-to-date gain of 4.5%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, 0.29% is up 3.3% and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, 0.38% is looking at a gain thus far in the year of over 8%.
The ascent of the digital asset created just 12 years ago by a person or persons known as Satoshi Nakamoto has been attributed to growing institutional interest in bitcoin and other alternative cryptographically backed assets.
The fervor for bitcoins was given a fresh spark earlier this month when Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. TSLA, -0.25% said that it has acquired $1.5 billion in bitcoins in January and that it could accept the world’s No. 1 digital asset for payment in the future.
Late Thursday, Musk via a tweet, further explained his rationale for getting exposure to bitcoins, describing the decision as “simply a less dumb form of liquidity than cash, is adventurous enough for an S&P500 company.”
Other institutions including PayPal Holdings Inc. PYPL, which back in November opened up its cryptocurrency platform to all U.S. customers after conducting a more narrow rollout, has helped drive bitcoin prices sharply higher in recent weeks and months. Read more from MarketWatch.
