Bitcoin tops $50,000

Bitcoin has jumped over $50,000 for the first time since its creation.

CNBC’s Ryan Browne reported:

Bitcoin’s price broke above $50,000 for the first time in history Tuesday, continuing its blistering rally as major companies appear to be warming to cryptocurrencies.

The world’s largest digital currency by market value rose more than 3% to an all-time high of $50,487 at about 7:30 a.m. ET, according to data from Coin Metrics. It later fell below the mark, trading 0.2% higher at a price of $48,760.

The Wall Street Journal’s Paul Vigna and Caitlin Ostroff wrote:

The $50,000 level is an “emotional level for people in the space,” said Brian Melville, head of strategy at trading firm Cumberland. But it is also a simple result of supply and demand, he added.

From August through December, about 150,000 new bitcoins were minted, he estimated. The firm calculated that about 359,000 bitcoins were bought in the same period, and that imbalance has continued in 2021. “It’s a really important metric to watch,” he added.

Thyagaraju Adinarayan, Tom Wilson from Reuters noted:

“The rally in bitcoin in part reflects the recent buoyancy of market confidence but also headlines suggesting an increase in corporate acceptability,” said Jane Foley, head of FX Strategy at Rabobank.

Evolve Funds Group said on Tuesday it had applied to launch a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund on the Toronto Stock Exchange. That would be the second planned bitcoin ETF after Canada’s main securities regulator approved a fund by Purpose Investments Inc.