On the other hand, voices of concern are also difficult. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said at a Senate approval hearing in January, “I think many cryptocurrencies are mainly used for illegal finance. We need to consider ways to reduce such use and prevent money laundering.” Revealed.
The cryptocurrency Bitcoin broke through $50,000 for the first time ever. Optimists shout $100,000, while pessimists fear a plunge. ▶ Buy Tesla with Bitcoin
▷Wall Street digital asset management
Bitcoin rose to a maximum of $50,645 on February 16. This is the first time it has exceeded 50,000 dollars. In January, it occupied the $50,000 mark after surpassing $40,000. Bitcoin surged four times last year, and this year, the increase has exceeded 70%.
“In a year, bitcoin will reach $100,000’easy’,” said Anthony Scaramuchi, CEO of Skybridge Capital, who split with Trump after Donald Trump served as the White House Public Affairs Commissioner in the US administration. There is a bar. At that time, the claim that it was a ridiculous story prevailed, but now it is no longer sound.
It is Elon Musk who sparked the’trend rise’ in Bitcoin. “I should have bought bitcoin eight years ago,” he said in a recent social media clubhouse. In addition, he deleted his Twitter account’s existing profile and wrote’#bitcoin’. When Elon Musk expressed his public support, the bitcoin price surged nearly 20% at the time. Elon Musk’s remarks, admired by ant investors as “Papa Musk,” were no different from recognizing Bitcoin’s bright future.
It wasn’t just words. Tesla said it had bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Tesla said, “We bought bitcoin to maximize cash return and secure flexibility,” and said, “There is a possibility that some of the company’s capital will be invested in cryptocurrency in the future.” Tesla also said it will add bitcoin payment as a payment method when purchasing a car.
Following Tesla, a large Wall Street bank also added. New York Mellon Bank (BNY Mellon), the oldest and largest wealth management bank in the United States, announced that it would buy bitcoin. It also announced that it would create a new business unit that supports issuing and holding digital assets such as Bitcoin. Prior to BNY Melon, Fidelity Investments unveiled a plan for a bitcoin-related business in October 2018 and obtained a cryptocurrency business license from the financial authorities at the end of last year. This means that large Wall Street financial institutions have successively recognized cryptocurrency.
In addition, Canadian securities authorities have approved the Bitcoin ETF for the first time ever. The Ontario Securities Commission has approved the Bitcoin ETF for Purpers Investments, a Toronto-based wealth management company. With the emergence of Bitcoin ETFs, it is expected that investors will be more able to invest in Bitcoin in the future. In addition, Mastercard, a credit card company, has a plan to include some cryptocurrency in its payment system, PayPal, an online payment agency, holds bitcoin on its platform and uses it for payment, and Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, said Added bitcoin to’eligible’ assets.
Not only this. The city of Miami, Florida, USA, said it would pay employees’ salaries in bitcoin. Francis Suarez, Mayor of Miami, Florida, told a press conference on Feb. 11 that “we will admit not only paying employee salaries in bitcoin, but also paying taxes in bitcoin.” This is the first local government in the history of the United States to pay employee salaries in cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. It shows that Bitcoin is no longer staying on the periphery and is entering the mainstream of the financial market, and its speed is accelerating.
▶It is different from the market trend in 2017?
▷Ant-organic double market is positive
Optimists argue that this uptrend is different from the sharp fluctuations the following year after peaking in 2017. At the end of 2017, bitcoin rose sharply and reached $20,000, but after failing to break through the 20,000 line, it plunged and fell more than 80% the following year. After that, after continuing the sluggish trend, it managed to recover. With the corona 19 (new coronavirus infectious disease) pandemic last year, the value of assets has risen and bitcoin has begun to gain attention again.
Institutional investors’ movements are what the bullseye most pay attention to. While ant investors who shouted’Gazua’ in 2017 led the uptrend, institutional investors led the uptrend in this phase. In addition, the US stock information site Reddit was added to the addition of ant investors, leading to a sharp rise. The amount of money in the institutionalized money flows into the cryptocurrency market, and some of the questions about the future use value have been resolved, and more individual investors have gathered.
“Bitcoin has become a much more stable asset than it was three years ago,” said Michael Sailor, CEO of MicroStrategy, who announced that he would issue a $600 million convertible bond to buy bitcoin, appeared on CNBC.
Antony Trenchev, co-founder of the London cryptocurrency lender, Nexo, told Bloomberg News, “It is impossible to ignore the current mood and momentum regardless of Musk, Mastercard, or Morgan Stanley.” The coin express train has already left the station.”
Analysis shows that the inconsistency between supply and demand also affected the price increase. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) quoted Brian Melville, head of Cumberland’s Strategic Division. Reported. This means that demand has more than doubled the new supply.
Of course, the negative view is also strong. Skeptics argue that bitcoin is nothing more than a speculative play among investors looking for a bite in the era of monetary easing. There are concerns that Bitcoin is one of the biggest’bubbles’ in history.
Nuriel Rubini, a professor at New York University, who is called’Dr. Doom’, refers to bitcoin as a’digital tulip’, comparing bitcoin to the 17th century tulip bubble. At that time, tulip bulbs were soaring in the Netherlands when tulip prices soared, and then rapidly collapsed, causing many Europeans to go bankrupt. Professor Rubini warned that “many people buy cryptocurrency at ridiculous prices,” and “you will not be able to recover money and lose money.” Prof. Rubini’s criticism is that Bitcoin has few practical uses and that it does not provide stable income like bonds and securities.
In particular, the fact that global financial authorities are on the critical side is considered the biggest weakness of Bitcoin. “Bitcoin is not a real currency,” said Christine Lagard, the head of the European Central Bank (ECB), and “the ECB will not buy or hold it.” In addition, Governor Lagarde urged more regulations on cryptocurrency, citing the possibility of being used for money laundering.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also said at a Senate approval hearing in January that “many cryptocurrencies are mainly used for illegal finance.” Since then, the price of Bitcoin has also dropped significantly. The Indian government is pushing for legislation to ban the distribution of private cryptocurrencies.
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