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Bitcoin is back above $10,000

Oscar Williams-Grut
·Senior City Correspondent, Yahoo Finance UK
Updated
A man works on a laptop beneath the Bitcoin logo at the Consensus 2018 blockchain technology conference in New York City, New York, U.S., May 16, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Segar
Mate Tokay, COO of Bitcoin.com, works on a laptop beneath the Bitcoin logo at the Consensus 2018 blockchain technology conference in New York City on May 16, 2018. Photo: REUTERS/Mike Segar

The price of bitcoin (BTC-USD) continues to rally, as the cryptocurrency passed $10,000 per coin over the weekend.

Bitcoin jumped above $10,000 early on Saturday morning and peaked at $11,135 around lunchtime UK time on Saturday. The price has since come off slightly but bitcoin is still trading above $10,000.

“Bitcoin hasn't hit above $10,000 for 15 months, since March 6, 2018,” Fred Schebesta, the cofounder of cryptocurrency broker HiveEx.com, said.

"Twenty-four-hour volume is among the highest we've ever seen — it's at December 2017 levels when bitcoin reached almost $20,000, which means there's double the amount of activity right now.”

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Bitcoin is down 0.6% against the dollar to $10,784 (BTC-USD) at 8.30am UK and down 0.4% against the pound to £8,488 (BTC-GBP).

However, the price holding firm above $10,000 underlines the continued rally of bitcoin prices so far in 2019. The cryptocurrency has rallied over 170% so far this year against the dollar and its price rise has accelerated pace in recent weeks.

Bitcoin has risen rapidly so far in 2019. Photo: Yahoo Finance UK
Bitcoin has risen rapidly so far in 2019. Photo: Yahoo Finance UK

“Investors are ignoring what happened the last time we saw parabolic rises like this,” Neil Wilson, the chief market analyst at Markets.com, said in an email. “Is it different this time? No, but people have short memories.

“Facebook’s Libra white paper may have stoked renewed interest in cryptos at a time when the buzz had already returned.”

Last week a consortium of major companies led by Facebook (FB) launched Libra, a new cryptocurrency project that aims to create a global currency launching next year.

“Facebook just announced Libra coin,” Schebesta said. “It's going mainstream. If everyone thought the last time was big, when bitcoin reached almost US$20,000 in December 2017, that was just like the first iPhone.”

Wilson said: “Bitcoin is more mature etc, but the fundamentals of this scheme remain unaltered. What I would say is that arguably big money is starting to view this differently and think it could be very costly to ignore if they get left behind.”

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Oscar Williams-Grut covers banking, fintech, and finance for Yahoo Finance UK. Follow him on Twitter at @OscarWGrut.

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