Today, Bitcoin reached the price of $18,150, bringing its market capitalization to a record-high. Speaking of records, this is the highest price Bitcoin has reached over the last three years, as well as the only sixth day in history with the price of one BTC clocking above $17,000.
Bitcoin price still hasn’t broken the all-time high of $19,783, which it reached in December 2017. The big question is whether the world’s most popular crypto can break this record by the end of 2020?
What’s Behind Bitcoin’s Recent Surge?
Bitcoin has had a very exciting year. In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, its price dropped to $4,679. It started recovering in summer, going over the $10,000 mark in July. From there, it continued going up slowly before experiencing a big price boost in October.
What happened then was that PayPal announced it’s entering the cryptocurrency industry, with plans of enabling the users to buy, store, and sell Bitcoin and other digital currencies on the platform.
At the same time, we saw some big companies going crypto. The founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, for example, purchased $50 million worth of Bitcoin. The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust did something similar, increasing its total Bitcoin stash to 500,000 BTCs.
October also saw many Wall Street investors moving their focus from gold to cryptocurrencies. Then, in November, American investments in Bitcoin grew even further, following the uncertainty caused by the 2020 US Election.
Can Bitcoin Go Above the $19,783 Mark?
On Sunday, December 17, 2017, Bitcoin reached its highest price in history – $19,783.06. It stayed so high for not too long. Its price dropped below $19,500 the same day.
Almost three years later, Bitcoin is on the verge of breaking that record. Considering how bullish the cryptocurrency has been lately, many investors are optimistic about Bitcoin going over $20,000 in the near future.
Billionaire Mike Novogratz, who’s a self-professed Bitcoin enthusiast, expects the price of Bitcoin to go over $20,000 easily, reaching $65,000 in the next couple of years. According to him, such a scenario is more than probable due to the “network effect” in which the demand goes up, while supply remains practically the same.
Novogratz shared his theory on Twitter, following a poll posted by Game of Thrones’ actress Maisie Williams (Arya Stark). The HBO star asked her followers for their opinion on whether she should invest in Bitcoin.
Novogratz’s answer was “YES” but not all of her followers said the same. In fact, more people voted NO in Maisie Williams’ poll. Out of 902,304 respondents, 53.4% advised her not to go into the Bitcoin business.
Judging by the comments on her poll, the main reason for voting NO was the worry that Bitcoin might collapse. People seem to be concerned that the Bitcoin price rise is only temporary and that another price crash is imminent.
Can Silk Road Bitcoin Auction Wreck the Cryptocurrency Market?
The crypto universe is a volatile market, with price swings worth thousands of dollars happening on a daily basis.
The fact that Bitcoin is being bullish at the moment is not a certain sign that this trend will continue. At the same time, there’s also no sign that it’s going to get bearish anytime soon.
For many cryptocurrency experts, the future price of BTC depends on nothing other than supply and demand. What we know for certain is that Bitcoin supply is limited, with a maximum of 21 million Bitcoins to be mined over the next 120 years.
As demand seems to be increasing in the times of the global pandemic, it’s fair to expect the price of BTC to go up. However, there’s one thing that might slow its rise significantly – a sudden addition of new BTCs
A few weeks ago, the US Government seized a total of 69,369 BTCs from a wallet connected to the defunct online black market Silk Road. The Bitcoins in question were dormant for many years, but the chance is that the US Government is going to put them on the market in 2021.
If the court approves it, the Silk Road BTCs are probably going to be auctioned, which could have an impact on the price of this cryptocurrency. The thing is that 69,369 is a big number when Bitcoins are concerned.
Considering that there are 18.5 million Bitcoins in the world at the moment, putting almost 70k of additional on the market could make the crypto world way more volatile. At least in the weeks following the sale.
