Bitcoin briefly rose above $60,000 (roughly Rs. 43.7 lakhs) for the first time on Saturday, as increasing backing from corporate heavyweights helps the world’s most popular virtual currency continue its record-breaking run.
The digital currency has risen sharply this year, broadly outperforming conventional asset classes, partly due to broader acceptance as a form of payment.
The cryptocurrency has been on a meteoric rise since March last year, when it stood at $5,000, spurred by online payments giant PayPal saying it would allow account holders to use cryptocurrency.
In recent weeks, companies have taken advantage of its strength to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, capitalizing on improved market sentiment.
Last month Elon Musk’s electric carmaker Tesla invested $1.5 billion in the virtual unit, while Twitter chief Jack Dorsey and rap mogul Jay-Z said they are creating a fund aimed at making Bitcoin “the internet’s currency”.
Coinbase, the biggest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, filed last month for a Nasdaq listing. Regulatory approval would represent a landmark victory for cryptocurrency advocates seeking mainstream endorsement.
Others jumping on the bandwagon include Wall Street player BNY Mellon, investment fund giant BlackRock and credit card titan Mastercard.
Amid rising customer demand to own and invest in bitcoin, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said this week that it is exploring how to serve those clients while remaining on the right side of regulation. It recently restarted a cryptocurrency trading desk and this month it started dealing bitcoin futures and non-deliverable forwards.
Bitcoin, which was launched back in 2009, hit the headlines in 2017 after soaring from less than $1,000 in January to almost $20,000 in December of the same year.
The virtual bubble then burst in subsequent days, with bitcoin’s value then fluctuating wildly before sinking below $5,000 by October 2018.
However the last year’s rise has been more steady, with investors and Wall Street finance giants wooed by dizzying growth, the opportunity for profit and asset diversification, and a safe store of value to guard against inflation.
