The price growth of the crypto currency Bitcoin, which has continued since October, has led to new record values. Only a few days after the Bitcoin rate first rose to above 10. 000 US dollars rose, the cryptocurrency is approaching the mark of 30. 000 U.S. dollar. During the course already on 27. December briefly at 28. 000 US dollar, it already reached temporarily 28 just three days later on the Bitstamp trading platform. 500 US dollars – despite taking profits in the meantime and the corresponding price drops.

This means that the value of Bitcoin is almost four times as high as at the beginning of the year: On January 1st 2020 the rate at Bitstamp was around 7200 US dollars. On other trading venues, of which there are numerous, the record levels can deviate as there is no central Bitcoin trading.

In December alone, the value rose by around 45 percent, since mid-October – the start of the strong price growth – by more than 140 percent. According to The Guardian, this is due to the weak US dollar. Investors are increasingly fleeing to the best-known cryptocurrency to avoid a feared increase in inflation, writes the British daily. The exchange rate between the US dollar on the one hand and the British pound and the euro on the other hand is as low at the end of December 2020 as it was last in April 2018.

According to the Guardian report, the main drivers of inflation are the corona aid packages planned by the US government and the fear that the future US President Joe Biden could increase this further after taking office in January 2021.

However, Bitcoin is becoming more and more common accepted as a means of payment and viewed by investors as an alternative to gold. Accordingly, the price of the precious metal has fallen by around since the beginning of August 2020 Percent. Market observers assume that Bitcoin could develop into a kind of digital gold.

(pbe)