With a rate of now over 19. 000 US dollar, Bitcoin is approaching its all-time high from the end in large steps 2017. At that time, the price of cryptocurrency reached values ​​around 20. 000 US dollars, followed by a sharp decline. The Coinmarketcap platform currently has an average price of 19. 188 US dollars.

Bitcoin has appreciated in value in the past few weeks. In March, the price had marked an annual low, since then it has increased with interruptions. Bitcoin has been climbing steeply again since the beginning of October, and the digital currency has since recorded an increase in value of around 75 percent. Only a week ago did the price climb above 17 for the first time. 000 US dollars.

Amateurs and professionals in coin fever? The pace of the price increase is reminiscent of the Bitcoin buying frenzy at the end of the year 2017, when the Bitcoin was also almost every day at 1000 rose dollars or more – and fell sharply again the following spring. Two factors in particular are seen as drivers of the current rally: PayPal’s step-by-step entry into the business of payments and trading via cryptocurrencies and the increasing interest of institutional investors.

For example, the crypto-money investment company Pantera Capital speaks of one real explosion in demand from PayPal users: within the four weeks since the payment service has been offering its customers crypto money trading, they would have a volume of around 70 Percent of the newly generated coins bought up during this time. In addition, there would be demand from other end-user apps such as Cash, operated by the payment service Square, which, like PayPal, enable users to crypto trading with low entry barriers. The result is a shortage of fresh coins, which drives up the price.

Also from the part of professional investors, more and more money seems to be flowing into the crypto market. The investment firm Grayscale prides itself on having achieved a $ 1 billion inflow of funds for its large investor cryptocurrency funds in the third quarter alone. At the same time, funds would be withdrawn from gold ETFs, reports the specialist service The Block, citing an analysis by the major bank JP Morgan. And just a few months ago, the large asset manager Fidelity launched a Bitcoin fund.

Ripple price more than doubled Other cryptocurrencies have also been able to celebrate a real price frenzy in the past few days: For example, Ripple has invested around 120 percent in the past seven days, according to Coinmarketcap Worth to. With a rate of around 0 66 US dollars, digital money, which is primarily intended for banks, is still from its previous high of 3 to 4 US dollars away. Ethereum, too, the big number two in the crypto world, which is still small compared to other financial markets, reached a price of over for the first time since the summer 2018 U.S. dollar. The all-time high in January 2018 was well above 1000 US dollars.

(axk)