Bitcoin jumped in price by 8% and again costs more than $ 50 thousand
Bitcoin prices skyrocketed on Monday as the cryptocurrency market tried to recover from a wide sell-off last week. At about 3 pm London time, the price of the very first digital currency rose more than 8% to $ 53,757 per unit, according to Coin Metrics. The other two digital tokens, Ethereum and XRP, are up 9% and 15%, respectively.
Bitcoin dropped below $ 50,000 last week for the first time since early March after US President Joe Biden’s proposed capital gains tax hike led to a wave of sales. The cryptocurrency market has collectively lost more than $ 200 billion in value in just one day.
Mr. Biden is expected to raise the long-term capital gains tax for the richest Americans to 43.4%, including a surcharge. This triggered a brief drop in equity markets, and analysts believe the panic has spread to the crypto market as well.
Bitcoin is up about 80% YTD as more institutional investors and big companies like Tesla has entered the market, believing it will diversify their portfolio if inflation rises. However, the value of the leading cryptocurrency is now down about 17% from an all-time high of nearly $ 65,000.
Concerns about the regulatory crackdown on cryptocurrencies continue to cloud the market environment. Jesse Powell, chief executive of major cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, warned that governments could restrict the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Several officials, from US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, have sounded the alarm over the use of Bitcoin for illegal activities. India plans to introduce legislation banning trade or even possession of cryptocurrencies. In Turkey, the central bank banned the use of cryptocurrencies when two crypto exchanges crashed. The head of one of the firms, Thodex, reportedly fled Turkey with $ 2 billion in investor funds.
However, there are signs that cryptocurrencies are becoming mainstream. Coinbase, the largest digital currency exchange in the United States, went public through a direct listing earlier this month, and PayPal launched new features for cryptocurrency trading and shopping. Reportedly, JPMorgan is also preparing for active steps in the cryptocurrency market.
