OP 22 November, 2020 - 08:33 PM
Bitcoin topped $18,600 on Friday, 20 November 2020 continuing a vertical climb that accelerated in early October. The largest digital currency by market cap is up 160% in 2020, and up 190% since March 15, following a crash in the second week of March that saw the price drop 25%.
Now it’s not far from its all-time-high of around $19,800 toward the end of December 2017.
Bitcoin (BTC) bulls are hoping this time is different. And it is, judging by the breathless media coverage and general mania: there isn’t any.
In the previous bull run, financial (and non-financial) press went into a frenzy, in many cases covering bitcoin for the first time, and the price hike became a cultural conversation around Thanksgiving dinner tables. Stories proliferated of crypto newbies buying up bitcoin on exchanges, many of whom lost their shirts when bitcoin dropped precipitously in January 2018.
This time, the coverage has been muted. Perhaps you can chalk that up to the mental toll of the pandemic or the distraction of the U.S. presidential election. (The debate feels in many ways similar to the debate around why live sports TV ratings are way down.) Or it could be a sign that the price hike is less remarkable because the public now knows about bitcoin, and it has become less of an oddity. That can be a positive indicator for its future use and mainstream acceptance.
Growing acceptance, both by consumer-facing companies and Wall Street institutions, provides much of the explanation for bitcoin’s 2020 run. Here are some of the recent news events and trends that have boosted bitcoin.
Now it’s not far from its all-time-high of around $19,800 toward the end of December 2017.
Bitcoin (BTC) bulls are hoping this time is different. And it is, judging by the breathless media coverage and general mania: there isn’t any.
In the previous bull run, financial (and non-financial) press went into a frenzy, in many cases covering bitcoin for the first time, and the price hike became a cultural conversation around Thanksgiving dinner tables. Stories proliferated of crypto newbies buying up bitcoin on exchanges, many of whom lost their shirts when bitcoin dropped precipitously in January 2018.
This time, the coverage has been muted. Perhaps you can chalk that up to the mental toll of the pandemic or the distraction of the U.S. presidential election. (The debate feels in many ways similar to the debate around why live sports TV ratings are way down.) Or it could be a sign that the price hike is less remarkable because the public now knows about bitcoin, and it has become less of an oddity. That can be a positive indicator for its future use and mainstream acceptance.
Growing acceptance, both by consumer-facing companies and Wall Street institutions, provides much of the explanation for bitcoin’s 2020 run. Here are some of the recent news events and trends that have boosted bitcoin.