Bitcoin, the top cryptocurrency, is holding above $8,000 Friday morning after it caught markets by surprise a day earlier by surging over $1,000 in less than 60 minutes to reach above that level for the first time in two weeks.
The trading volume of Bitcoin also hit an hourly record of $1.2 billion on Thursday, meaning more Bitcoins changed hands in an hour than in any other 60-minutes period since cryptocurrency trading became popular in 2017. On CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin trading volume nearly doubled to $8.9 billion on Thursday from $4.64 billion a day earlier.
The price of Bitcoin grew over 16 percent on Thursday after trending lower over the past few days.
As of 7.45 am ET on Friday, Bitcoin was up 9.56 percent at $8,087.74 with a 24-hour trading volume of $8.95 billion and a market cap of $137.29 billion on CoinMarketCap.
Further, overall cryptocurrency market capitalization rose above $300 billion for the first time since March 28, suggesting the upbeat sentiment was not limited to Bitcoin, but spread over the market.
The broad-based improvement in the cryptocurrency market sentiment have made many in the community hopeful of the market attaining levels similar to the December 2017 peak, this year. But some prefer to keep their fingers crossed as past rallies have sometimes turned out to be just a blip.
As in the past, there was no clear explanation for the sudden surge in the Bitcoin price. Reasons speculated over Twitter and social media platforms ranged from the April 17 tax deadline in the U.S. to the news of an Islamic scholar declaring that Bitcoin was ‘halal’ or in compliance with the Islamic law Sharia.
Yet another reason cited was the possible entry of firms backed by Wall Street legends, George Soros and the Rockefeller family, into the cryptocurrency market.
And surely, crypto forums also looked into politics and wondered if the Russians and Chinese may be buying Bitcoins to thwart the US President Donald Trump’s sanctions and tariffs.
by Jyotsna V
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