2020 has seen BTC (Bitcoin) have one of its craziest years so far. On Monday last week, the giant cryptocurrency hit its highest valuation of 2020; $19,864. This marks a 170% rise in value this year alone, and analysts say the value could go much higher. This is all in the backdrop of a very difficult year for many countries around the globe. The coronavirus pandemic, coupled with economic slowdowns and political uncertainty in many parts of the world, have been major factors in how the value of Bitcoin has worked out. Here are five reasons why this cryptocurrency is rising to new highs every day.
Institutional interest
This year, we have seen some big institutional investors give Bitcoin a chance. They have taken on the cryptocurrency’s exposure by buying into publicly-traded trusts such as the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), which is tightly connected to Coindesk. Additionally, money managers such as Guggenheim, with more than $233 billion in assets under management, are leaning the Bitcoin way. This is seeing that its Macro Opportunities Fund has filed with regulators to allocate about 10% of their net assets to GBTC, which is huge. Institutions are known for investing in risk-averse ventures. Therefore, seeing big money institutions buy Bitcoin not only stabilizes the prices. It also shows the markets that it’s something they should seriously invest in.
The long view from hedge fund managers
Hedge fund managers who have been in the business for a while are very influential in a certain class of assets. People were distrustful of crypto at first because the biggest names in hedge funds and banking said that it was just a bubble and would soon collapse. Today, legendary hedge fund managers like Stanley Druckenmiller and Paul Tudor Jones II have over the year called Bitcoin a long-term investment. These managers say that Bitcoin’s price could continue rising, given that the primary denomination against the coin is in U.S. dollars. As the Federal Reserve prints money to inject into the economy in the form of stimulus packages, values could continue to spike.
Positive analysts
Over the last couple of weeks, Wall Street analysts have been quite positive about Bitcoin and its future. For instance, AllianceBernstein, a multi-billion dollar money managing firm, released a special report on Bitcoin and its future in the coming months. The report said that given Bitcoin has a place in asset location for investors in the post-pandemic global economic environment. Inigo Fraser Jenkins, the head of Bernstein Research said that Bitcoin offers investors the best hedge against inflation, which is set to hit the U.S. markets in a few months.
PayPal
One of the biggest developments this year in the crypto sector is that mobile money giant PayPal now allows its customers to directly purchase Bitcoin from their PayPal accounts. Backed by their 346 million active subscriber base, the company says it’s creating a path for users to start using the cryptocurrency in their everyday purchases across their 26 million worldwide merchants. Given that PayPal is a trusted financial services behemoth, it sends a sign of confidence about Bitcoin, which in turn causes its value to go up.
OKEx
One of Bitcoin investors’ biggest concerns the digital asset’s value once traders were given the green light to withdraw their tokens from the platform. Over the last couple of weeks, traders on OKEx could not access their Bitcoins due to the assets being frozen by regulators. Many were concerned that once people were able to withdraw their coins, they would immediately sell them, which the market translates into a dump. Just like any other asset, when supply is abundant, prices go down. Data from OKEx’s blockchain revealed about $500 million in Bitcoin. However, after the go-ahead was given, there wasn’t much liquidation, which also sent a confidence message, pushing the prices a bit higher.
