UPDATED 21:34 EST / NOVEMBER 17 2020

BLOCKCHAIN

In post-election rally, bitcoin surges to its highest price in three years

The price of bitcoin surged to its highest level in three years today in a rally that some are suggesting will surpass the run-up in 2017.

The recent surge coincided with the U.S. presidential election, but bitcoin started to climb before that, trading at $11.406.06 on Oct. 17.

Although bitcoin has not surpassed its record high of $19,783.06 on Jan. 1, 2017, it has hit its all-time record high in terms of market capitalization, sitting at $329.3 billion. More bitcoin has been mined three years after bitcoin’s price record, boosting its market cap. “Market capitalization is… a helpful measure for comparing bitcoin to other financial assets, companies or value systems,” Peter Chawaga at Bitcoin Magazine noted.

Whether the current rise of bitcoin is sustainable is another matter. CNBC reported that bitcoin’s climb this year, during which it has risen 137% year-to-date, is down to a number of factors, including government-related COVID-19 stimulus and interest from big-name investors.

“The gap between the crypto world and traditional financial institutions has closed dramatically,” Charles Hayter, chief executive officer of crypto market data provider CryptoCompare, told CNBC. “The result is that incumbent players are now fine to play in the digital asset markets. The narrative that is compelling them to do so is this alignment of COVID, monetary policy and political disarray globally.”

Coindesk warned that the recent highs could result in a sell-off in response. Mike McGlone, senior commodity strategist for Bloomberg Intelligence, while warning that’s likely, also described any sell-off as a “speed bump” to bitcoin’s long-term trajectory.

Others are predicting near-future record highs for bitcoin. Philip Swift, a bitcoin analyst and the creator of Lookintobitcoin.com told Cointelegraph that he believes that bitcoin will peak at $22,000 for a variety of reasons, including reserves dropping, institutional accumulation and a growing futures market.

Although the prospects for bitcoin come year-end are looking positive, there’s next to no chance that it will hit $1 million. The prediction for bitcoin’s price was famously made by John McAfee when he said in 2017 that he would “eat his own dick” if bitcoin didn’t hit the mark.

McAfee has since denied making the claim and has said that he never believed bitcoin would hit $1 million, but the internet doesn’t forget. There’s even a site with a countdown to when McAfee is meant to deliver on his promise.

Image: Pixabay

A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:

Your vote of support is important to us and it helps us keep the content FREE.

One click below supports our mission to provide free, deep, and relevant content.  

Join our community on YouTube

Join the community that includes more than 15,000 #CubeAlumni experts, including Amazon.com CEO Andy Jassy, Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, and many more luminaries and experts.

“TheCUBE is an important partner to the industry. You guys really are a part of our events and we really appreciate you coming and I know people appreciate the content you create as well” – Andy Jassy

THANK YOU