On Tuesday, the price of bitcoin hit $5,000 according to some online exchanges after a mystery buyer placed a huge order for 20,000 bitcoins. The $100 million order was spread across three major exchanges; Coinbase, Kraken, and Bitstamp. The price jump is quite significant because it marks the first time in nearly five months that the price has reached such a level, making it a record for this year so far.
Bitcoin was up and down last year, reaching highs of over $9,000 before descending to around $6,000 in September where it plodded along until November when it took a huge nosedive to almost $3,000. The price has steadily made its way back to $4,000 since then but today’s jump is one of the sharpest.
Back in 2017, bitcoin caused a lot of excitement when it managed to briefly reach $19,000 after a rapid year-long climb. It then tumbled in 2018 in a correction while buyers and sellers anarchically figured out the asset’s true worth. Despite the massive fall in price, if you were holding on to bitcoins way back in 2016, you’ll have seen the value of your bitcoins multiply by a fair amount.
The price surge also caused similar price rises in other cryptocurrencies including Ethereum, XRP, and Litecoin. It’ll be interesting to see whether today’s price increase causes something larger like the rise we saw in 2016 or whether it’s just a flash in the pan.
Source: Reuters