Bitcoin BTC broke $20,000 to set new all-time highs on Wednesday around three years after its previous price record.
Almost on cue, the rally sent major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase temporarily offline, turning profit-taking from the sudden 6% surge into a headache for traders.
Bitcoin pumps when Winklevoss meditates?
The new record highs sent Bitcoin to the top of Twitter’s trending topics as BTC fans rushed to hit publish on fire tweets they’ve been keeping for the occasion (who can blame them?).
Indeed, the last time Bitcoin was worth this much was in December 2017. But after trading as low as $3,200 a year later — more than 80% below its record highs — it’s back.
I just finished meditating and when I looked at my phone I was greeted with this. We did it! #Bitcoin has surpassed its all-time high — congratulations to all you HODLers out there. pic.twitter.com/6blOuEkAWY
— Cameron Winklevoss (@cameron) December 16, 2020
One word: Bitcoin.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) December 16, 2020
#bitcoin’s price is so high now that @coinbase is just going to stay offline permanently.
— Inane Foibles🇺🇸🇮🇪🇪🇺 (@inanefoibles) December 16, 2020
The rally comes after a flurry of interest from the coveted institutional class this year.
Jack Dorsey’s fintech Square allocated 1% of its assets ($50 million) to BTC, followed by the NASDAQ-listed MicroStrategy, which has bought over half a billion dollars worth of the cryptocurrency since August (and plans to buy even more).
Then there’s MassMutual, a relatively large mutual life insurance company. It recently announced its general fund was buying up BTC in a bid to diversify its portfolio. So too did UK asset manager Ruffer earlier today.
Not to mention, industry giant PayPal added support for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in October.
Bitcoin is now up nearly 190% in 2020, having jumped from under $7,200 to $20,633 at pixel time.
This is not investment advice. Don’t pretend it is. Always do your own research.
Published December 16, 2020 — 16:10 UTC