Bitcoin prices on Sunday were approaching a psychological stage of about $ 50,000.
The weekend move pushed the world’s No. 1 digital asset to a new record of $ 49,716.44, according to CoinDesk, adding to a steady grind to historic highs as more attention and more institutional investment in cryptocurrencies provided a pleasant background on short term for the virtual market.
Bitcoin BTCUSD,
the higher momentum led to a gain of over 64% over last year, compared to a 2.8% increase for DJIA Dow Jones Industrial Media,
an advance of 4.8% for the S&P 500 SPX index,
and achieved a 9.4% rally for the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP,
so far in 2021.
Although there is no specific news contributing to the expansion of bitcoin earnings, the rally comes as the asset seems to gather steam and increased attention among the traditional investment community.
Over the weekend, Bloomberg News, citing familiar people, reported that a Morgan Stanley MS,
The investment management unit, Counterpoint Global, is exploring the purchase of cryptocurrencies for its investors.
The report comes after The Wall Street Journal earlier this week said that Bank of New York Mellon, BK will own, transfer and issue bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on behalf of its customers.
“Digital assets are becoming part of the mainstream,” Roman Regelman, executive director of BNY Mellon, digital service and business, told WSJ.
In addition, last Wednesday, Mastercard MA,
stated that it will support certain cryptocurrencies in its network later this year and Tesla Inc. TSLA,
he said he bought $ 1.5 billion bitcoin and will eventually allow customers to use the cryptocurrency to buy their products.
Read: Why did Tesla buy bitcoin?
See also: Why does the dogecoin decrease? Crypto fell 20% from Monday’s record
PayPal Holdings Inc. PYPL,
In November, it opened its cryptocurrency platform to all US customers after a smaller launch.
Several Wall Street investors, including Stanley Druckenmiller and Paul Tudor Jones, have also embraced bitcoin. Renowned investor Bill Miller, founder of Miller Value Partners, in a letter to customers, recently reaffirmed his founding perspectives on bitcoin.
Of course, recent developments do not guarantee a higher uninterrupted rise for bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. At the end of 2017, the price of bitcoin, close to $ 20,000, recorded an epic collapse, slipping to a nadir around $ 3,000 before returning years later.
Bullish investors also note that additional earnings per asset may be conditional on the help of regulators in establishing clear investor protections and rules and crypto rules, which are sometimes seen as a tool for scammers, more rather than as a medium of exchange and a store of value like GC00 gold,