Bitcoin now tops $20,000 for the first time since Christmastime of 2017.
It’s a heady time for investors in this front running cryptocurrency.
Over at Coindesk, Sebastian Sinclair and Omkar Godbole are calling it an “institutional led rally,” saying that before cresting the $20,000 mark, bitcoin “test(ed) investor patience for three weeks.”
As the authors point out, Bitcoin’s doubling in price has not translated over to similar gains from other top cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple.
One big difference is the ubiquity and consumer familiarity of Bitcoin in communities worldwide.
By now, most of us are familiar with the big B that looks like a dollar sign – as Bitcoin ATMs show up on the street, and brokerages start to offer Bitcoin on-ramps, there’s every indication that the popularity of this coin is just going to continue to grow.
Sinclair and Godbole cover analyst sentiments suggesting Bitcoin will balloon to $100,000 in 2021.
They also compare Bitcoin to gold, that “yellow metal” that used to be the main alternative to fiat equities, in America, ever since the dollar went off the gold standard.
The narrative, hinted at in these current reports and others over the past year is that Bitcoin provides an entirely new and unique type of “safe haven” from equities markets – and that, as equities markets have been riven by uncertainties of all kinds, investors are striking out in this new direction. BTC prices have uncoupled from gold, analysts note, indicating that this is going to be a bold new market rivaling anything seen in history. Sinclair and Godbole note:
“While Bitcoin is now up over 180% on a year-to-date basis, gold has added just over 22%. Bitcoin, often touted as digital gold, has decoupled from (gold) this quarter with a more than 80% rally. Meanwhile, gold has suffered a 1% drop, with investors pulling money out of exchange-traded funds.”
That said, it’s up to you whether you think it’s worth getting into BTC or not.
