Bitcoin has hit a market value of $1 trillion.
As per a report, speculators, corporate treasurers and institutional investors are thought to have stoked Bitcoin’s volatile ascent.
Bitcoin traded at around $51,300 as of 1:30 p.m. on Friday in Hong Kong after quintupling in the past year. The crypto index’s performance towers over stocks, gold, commodities and bonds in 2021.
The digital unit zoomed to another record at $54,182, meaning that the combined value of all bitcoin now stands at $1.002 trillion according to data provider Coinmarketcap.com.
Oil prices sank meanwhile, as some companies began slowly restarting operations in the US producer state of Texas, where refineries have been hammered by a cold snap.
Meanwhile, data showed that the eurozone’s economy is being hit hard by a new wave of lockdowns but the damage will be less severe than last year’s virus-induced crash.
The closely watched PMI index compiled by IHS Markit rose to 48.1 points in February from 47.8 points in January, closer to the 50-point level which would have indicated growth.
“The reason that one trillion dollar market cap is significant because not many believed that bitcoin can achieve this. Now, we have a real number which is massive in size and we are going to get more investors joining this rally,” he added.
Bitcoin has set a blistering record pace, blasting past $50,000 on Tuesday, a week after Tesla revealed it had invested $1.5 billion in the unit.
The Elon Musk-led electric car juggernaut announced earlier this month that it now owns $1.5 billion’s worth of bitcoin in its corporate coffers. Tesla also said it was looking at letting consumers use bitcoin to buy its cars and SUVs.
That news has sparked speculation that other big companies may soon add bitcoin or other cryptocurrncies to their balance sheets, since bitcoin is generating a significantly higher return than bonds and cash.
Corporate America is validating bitcoin. Payments giants Square (SQ) and PayPal (PYPL)let their users buy and sell it. Credit card processing behemoths Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA) are also embracing cryprocurrencies.
