In this photo illustration, visual representations of the digital cryptocurrency, Bitcoin are arranged on January 4, 2021 in Katwijk, the Netherlands.
Yuriko Nakao | Getty Images
Bitcoin rose on Wednesday to hit a new all-time record as the cryptocurrency continued to trade wildly.
The price of bitcoin rose to trade over $ 35,000 early Wednesday morning, according to Coin Metrics. Subsequently, it slightly reduced its gains, trading 1% higher, to 34,275.
The most recent Bitcoin high of all time comes just days after falling more than 10% to $ 29,316. This followed a jump of over 300% in 2020 to levels above $ 29,000.
On Monday, JPMorgan released a note with a bold long-term price target for bitcoin, claiming that the cryptocurrency could rise to $ 146,000 as it competes with gold as an “alternative” currency. The precious metal also registered considerable gains in 2020, with spot gold increasing by about 25% per year.
Anthony Scaramucci, founder and co-managing partner of SkyBridge Capital, also told CNBC’s “Capital Connection” on Wednesday that his company is “quite up” in the Bitcoin store and sees it “replacing” gold. .
Scaramucci, a former White House communications director, added that democratic control of Congress would be “great” for cryptocurrencies because of “extraordinary” money printing expectations under a party-controlled federal government.
JPMorgan strategists, however, said bitcoin will have to become substantially less volatile before it can match gold in terms of market value. It is known that the price of cryptocurrency goes through wild swings.
The call of the American banking giant that invested was notable, given the previous comments of CEO Jamie Dimon about bitcoin. Dimon once called cryptocurrency a “fraud.”
Meanwhile, PwC’s global crypto leader Henri Arslanian told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Monday that bitcoin’s recent rise to record highs was partly driven by the entry of larger institutional investors.
Bitcoin bulls hailed the virtual currency as gold-like inflation coverage in the face of an unprecedented government stimulus aimed at combating the coronavirus pandemic. Skeptics see it as a speculative asset with no intrinsic value and a market bubble that is likely to explode at some point.
– Ryan Browne, Saheli Roy Choudhury and Yen Nee Lee contributed to this report.