The price of the virtual cryptocurrency Bitcoin is displayed on the phone screen in this photo.
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The price of Bitcoin soared back on Wednesday after a sharp sell-off, rising again by more than $ 50,000, while Square announced that it had bought the cryptocurrency worth $ 170 million.
At 4 a.m. ET, the world’s most valuable digital currency rose 7.5 percent to $ 50,683, according to Coin Metrics. The cryptocurrency rose $ 51,369 a few hours earlier.
Other cryptocurrencies also gained momentum, with ether and XRP rising by 11.3% and 7.4%, respectively. So-called altcoins, or alternative cryptocurrencies, often grow in moments of strength for bitcoin.
On Tuesday, Square announced that it bought 3,318 bitcoins at an average price of about $ 51,235. The fintech company, led by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, said bitcoin now accounts for about 5% of its total assets.
It’s not the first time Square has invested in bitcoin – the company bought a $ 50 million digital currency last year. Dorsey is one of the most well-known supporters of Bitcoin, after he once said that he believes that it will eventually become the “single currency” of the internet.
Bitcoin had a rough start to the week, dropping from a record high of $ 58,356 on Sunday to $ 45,501 on Tuesday. It’s not uncommon for bitcoin to suffer wild volatility crises – the digital token infamously climbed to nearly $ 20,000 in 2017, before entering a bear market the following year.
Bitcoin is still growing at over 70% so far and over 400% in the last 12 months. The amazing rally of the crypto asset attracted everyone’s attention, from Tesla CEO Elon Musk to US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
Earlier this week, Yellen called Bitcoin an “extremely inefficient” means of payment and warned of its use in illicit activities.
“It’s a highly speculative asset and … I think people should be aware that it can be extremely volatile,” the former Federal Reserve chairman told a NewBook Times DealBook conference. “I’m worried about the potential losses that investors may suffer.”
Meanwhile, Musk came out as a bitcoin believer. His electric car company recently invested $ 1.5 billion in corporate cash in cryptocurrency, and billionaire technology entrepreneur said he believes he could be “on the verge of gaining widespread acceptance” among conventional financial services firms. .
But even Musk suggested that current bitcoin price levels could be unsustainable, saying over the weekend that he said bitcoin and ether prices of rival symbols “seem high.”