Since Bitcoin reached near $20K level in 2017, it is no secret that it has been a struggle for the entire industry. Regulatory concerns, hacking incidences, plus the pump and dump schemes, these are just some of the issues that plagued the industry.
Today, Bitcoin was able to reach a new year-to-date high. It was able to surpass the $9,000 level for a second time. And many are now looking at the possibility that Bitcoin is really on its way towards $10K.
Bitcoin price reached $9,381.82. The last time that Bitcoin was able to hit this price was during May 2018. Given this recent surge in Bitcoin’s price, it is now up by 140% since the start of 2019.
Other cryptocurrencies are also up. Ether jumped by more than two times its starting value this year while XRP jumped by 23%.
Why Did Bitcoin Price Go Up?
Bitcoin was struggling for the past days. However, Bitcoin jumped above $9K due to the news that Facebook is set to launch its own cryptocurrency as early as Tuesday. There is also news that Facebook employees are taking their salary in the form of the Facebook cryptocurrency.
One of the things that makes the current crypto industry different from the last bull run in 2017 was due to the fact that the last bull run two years ago was basically due to ICOs. Dubbed as ICO mania, many believe that it damaged the industry’s reputation given the number of ICO scams.
On the other hand, this time around, slowly, there’s regulatory clarity plus there are those institutional investors that are slowly getting involved. For instance, you have JP Morgan that is also interested in having their very own cryptocurrency. Though JP Morgan’s version of cryptocurrency is backed by US dollars, its utilization of blockchain tech is a good start for the industry.
There is also the likes of AT&T that has been looking to get involved in the crypto space. Last month, AT&T mentioned its interest in accepting crypto payments via BitPay. There is a possibility that companies involved in the crypto space give legitimacy to the crypto industry.
Direct Competition Against Bitcoin?
According to analysts at RBC Capital Markets, Facebook cryptocurrency “may prove to be one of the most important initiatives in the history of the company”.
Facebook has partnered with the likes of Uber, Spotify, and Visa for this project. Called the GlobalCoin, there are reports saying that Facebook’s cryptocurrency could potentially compete against Bitcoin directly.
But for Facebook’s social media platform competitor, Twitter, it has called Bitcoin as the “future of internet money”. Its CEO Jack Dorsey mentioned recently that he is keeping is faith in Bitcoin.
So what could actually happen next on Bitcoin? It is no secret that many are waiting for Bitcoin’s comeback. There are already predictions that there is a chance that Bitcoin could outperform its all-time high. Could this really be the case? Could Bitcoin breaking the $10K psychological level be the signal for another bull run? But given recent findings that Bitcoin doesn’t move like any other asset, there is no denying that we can’t be too sure what’s next for the cryptocurrency.
