Cryptocurrency: Expert discusses success of Bitcoin
The value of the world's most popular cryptocurrency - known for its wild price volatility - has experienced a rollercoaster year so far. Bitcoin's price had skyrocketed to a record high of over $63,300 on April 16 having started the year on $29,300 following a strong finish to 2020. It was sliced in half since those record highs just six weeks ago, plummeting to just $33,600 last weekend.
But the increasingly mainstream cryptocurrency is battling back, and was up by nearly four percent (3.9 percent) in early morning trading on Thursday.
Bitcoin's price jumped from a low of $37,311.35 at 3.14am to $38,775.04 just over four hours later at 7.29am.
Rival cryptocurrency Ethereum followed suit, surging by 4.8 percent from $2,682.56 to $2,810.99 in the same period.
Last month, Bitcoin suffered a huge hammer blow after the Chinese Government - home to the world's second-largest economy - banned the use of the cryptocurrency as a form of payment.
But Bitcoin has received a much-needed boost, with Norway's finance minister appearing to break away from critics and throw his support behind cryptocurrencies.
Jan Tore Sanner suggested in time, cryptocurrencies will move past the volatility that has hit them for so long and would eventually experience a period of "breakthroughs".
He said: “It is clear that there may be a development over time, whereby you will be able to get more stabilization mechanisms in the currencies that can lead to greater breakthroughs and upheavals in the slightly longer term."
Mr Sanner also insisted people should be free to make their own decisions on whether they would be comfortable investing in Bitcoin.
READ MORE: Why Greenland is causing the EU a HUGE headache...
But he warned it is not yet ready to be used as a mainstream form of payment.
Norway's finance minister said: “There is no doubt that there is great interest in cryptocurrency both in Norway and internationally.
“But so far it has been unsuitable as a means of payment.”
This word of caution comes with the country's financial watchdog urging consumers to think hard before investing into assets such as cryptocurrency because of the financial risks that continue to exist.
DON'T MISS
Anti-vaxxer ill with Covid after saying jabs will kill 'stupid people' [LATEST]
Macron to seize power as Merkel finally steps down [COMMENTS]
War fears as US nuke bombers and NATO jets send warning to Russia [REPORT]
Erik Thedeen, the head of Sweden’s Financial Supervisory Authority, said the danger to mainstream markets from cryptocurrency volatilities is currently “rather limited".
However, he warned that could change if they become “a more established asset among larger corporates and financial companies".
The latest developments follow a surge in Dogecoin's price by almost 30 per cent earlier this week after a tweet from Elon Musk and a major listing sent the meme cryptocurrency soaring.
The surge in the meme cryptocurrency was initially driven by leading crypto exchange Coinbase announcing it was adding it to its professional trading platform, with Coinbase Pro members are now able to buy and sell Dogecoin.
The crypto exchange wrote in a blog post: “Starting today, transfer Doge into your Coinbase Pro account ahead of trading.
“Support for Doge will generally be available in Coinbase’s supported jurisdictions.
"Trading will begin on or after 9am Pacific Time (5pm BST) Thursday 3 June, if liquidity conditions are met.”
Tesla boss Elon Musk, celebrated the news of the listing by shared a meme on Twitter showing a ‘dogecoin standard’ dust cloud approaching the ‘global financial system’.
The tech billionaire wrote in the accompanying caption: “It’s inevitable."
Mr Musk later shared a picture of him "as a child", which showed a mocked up image of a Shiba Inu dog with computer setup from 1980 in the background.
The caption on the picture read: “I have to keep my passion hidden from the public or I’ll be socially ostracized.”
0 Comments