Digital currency Bitcoin has risen to a new record high of more than $50,000 as it continues to rebound after months of weakness.
The world’s largest digital currency by market value rose to $50,356 on Monday morning, according to data from CoinDesk. It was trading at a price of $48,876 as of 10 a.m. ET on Sunday.
Bitcoin had been inching near $50,000 all weekend before finally crossing the threshold Sunday evening. It’s the first time Bitcoin has reached that milestone since May 15 this year.
Bitcoin’s peers also advanced. Ethereum was up more than 3%, while Dogecoin rose nearly 2%.
Bitcoin’s recovery comes after it was trading at roughly $30,000 and $40,000 over the last several months. It had dropped from a record of almost $65,000 in mid-April this year.
Driving the Gains
The cryptocurrency is getting a lift after PayPal announced that it will allow people to buy, hold, and sell four types of cryptocurrencies — Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash — in the United Kingdom.
PayPal’s announcement marks the first international expansion of the company’s cryptocurrency offering outside of the United States, where it launched the service in October last year.
Looking back
Much of Bitcoin’s boost this year came from news of large firms like Tesla and Mastercard and other celebrities showing support for crypto.
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In February, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the firm had bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin and planned to accept the cryptocurrency as payment for its products.
Mastercard also opened up its network to some digital currencies.
Bitcoin skyrocketed to nearly $20,000 in late 2017 before losing more than 80% of its value the following year. Earlier this year, an Elon Musk tweet suggesting Tesla would no longer be taking Bitcoin as payment, sent prices of the cryptocurrency crashing. It, however, bounced back after Musk said Tesla will resume accepting Bitcoin payments again.
It’s been a turbulent few months for cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin, which hit an all-time high of nearly $65,000 in April, plummeted as low as $28,800 in June after China escalated its crackdown on digital currencies.
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Over the past year, global cryptocurrency adoption among individual investors has risen significantly, with global crypto adoption rising roughly 881% in the last year.
On Sunday, the global cryptocurrency market cap stood at $2.16 trillion and cryptocurrency trading volume in the last day notched $109 billion.
The road ahead for Bitcoin
Despite Bitcoin’s rise, skeptics still see the coin as a speculative asset and worry it may be one of the biggest market bubbles in history. While that could be true, current analysis on Bitcoin’s trend in the last few days shows that the crypto is well on its way to hitting new highs before the end of August.
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