Cryptocurrency

FOMO breaks out around Bitcoin: will $50,000 price soon be in sight?

US regulator's plans to put respectibility on outlaw digital currency help fuel renewed enthusiasm
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Image: Rodnae Productions via Pexels

3 January 2024

The cryptowinter officially ended as the value of one Bitcoin passed the $45,000 mark for the first time since 2021.

Bitcoin experienced an absolute peak year in 2023 – and that despite the scandals surrounding crypto platforms FTX and Binance – rising from some $17,000 in early January to over $42,000 by year-end, representing a puffy price gain of about 150%. In doing so, the crypto currency is significantly outperforming the US tech index Nasdaq (up 44% in 2023).

The main reason for the bouncback has been credited to simple FOMO (fear of missing out). Some crypto investors who have been on the sidelines are afraid of missing a ride up and are jumping on the train for now. On trading platform Coinbase, Bitcoin topped the charts Tuesday morning with a one-day gain of 7%, at $45,700. Well-known crypto-aficionados, such as the Winklevoss twins, are further firing up enthusiasm.

 

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The US stock market watchdog SEC is reportedly about to allow exchange-traded funds – so-called ETFs – that shadow Bitcoin’s cash price. That would greatly facilitate indirect investing in the crypto-currency and possibly increase its acceptance in the mainstream.

“The new ‘halving’ is scheduled for April 2024,” KBC Securities writes. “That is, the reward for mining new blocks will be lowered, and so will the rate at which new Bitcoins are generated. Specifically, the reward will decrease from 6.25 to 3.125 Bitcoin. Just that scarcity should lead to ‘significant increases’ in the value of Bitcoin, via lower supply and steady or increasing demand.”

The historic price record, close to $69,000 in November 2021, is not yet in sight. But there is busy betting on reaching the $50,000 mark. The question is whether this time it will be a fundamental rise or one of the many speculative surges Bitcoin has already seen.

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