Big money chasing Bitcoin takes the cryptocurrency to a new record high of $34,000

• Bitcoin has crossed the $34,000 mark for the first time, continuing its upward rally.
• As per industry insiders, Bitcoin will continue its rally and is expected to cross $50,000 in Q1 2021.
• Bitcoin has grown significantly over the past year, thanks to giants like PayPal, Visa and MasterCard putting their weight behind it.

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency continued its upward rally and crossed the $34,000 mark over the weekend. This comes just a few weeks after it crossed the $20,000 mark.

Bitcoin has more than tripled in value in the last three months alone – from $10,600 at the start of October to crossing $34,000 in the first week of January 2021.

The cryptocurrency crossed the $25,000 mark on Christmas day. It crossed the $30,000 mark on Saturday and traded as high as $34,182.75 on Sunday before slipping down. As per market insiders, the popular cryptocurrency is expected to continue its rally this year.

The latest gains come two days after bitcoin closed out a year in which the cryptocurrency rose more than 300%, with an almost 50% gain in December alone.


Source: Yahoo Finance

Note: Current price as at 10:00 am, January 4, 2021

Antoni Trenchev, the Managing Director and co-founder of Nexo, said that the cryptocurrency will be "on the road to $50,000 probably in the first quarter of 2021". Nexo is one of the world’s biggest crypto lenders.

“Institutional investors returning to their desks this week will likely boost prices further after retail buying over the holidays,” he added.

As per CoinDesk, the recent rally has pushed Bitcoin’s market capitalisation past $600 billion.

Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, a global blockchain project, has predicted good prospects for the cryptocurrency this year. "It's very likely that the asset will eventually pass $100,000 per coin.”

Institutional support behind Bitcoin’s surge

“Bitcoin price is being driven by institutional money and there is not enough supply. The number of family offices asking to invest in our ETP is just staggering. I've never seen this before. In 2017 it was just retail knocking at the door now it's only institutional,” a CoinDesk report quoted Laurent Kssis, Managing Director at 21Shares as saying.

Bringing Bitcoin to the masses

Payment giants like Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and even Square have thrown their weight behind Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. MasterCard has invested in Bitcoin company Digital Currency Group, while Visa has launched a credit card that rewards purchases in Bitcoin.

PayPal has announced that it will allow users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, giving Bitcoin a big push to the masses.

With inputs from IANS

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