Bitcoin Nears $50k in Value in Unprecedented Run as Elon Musk, Tesla Pledge to Embrace Cryptocurrency
Richard Moorhead
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The price of bitcoin set a new all-time high on Monday, with the digital currency approaching $50,000 per coin.
The bitcoin rally followed an announcement from electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla that it had acquired more than $1.5 billion in Bitcoin in January, and plans on accepting the cryptocurrency as payment for its products within the near future.
The acquisition of the currency by Elon Musk’s company represents one of bitcoin’s most significant investments from a major corporation in its short history. Bitcoin’s market cap is just over $877 billion, far less than that of major western corporations. New units of the currency are obtained through a digital mining process, and the finite amount of the currency distinguishes it from compromised currencies issued by central banks and governments. It’s expected that the last bitcoin in existence will be mined by 2140.
As of early Tuesday morning, the price of one bitcoin is just above $47,000. This represents a return of more than tenfold in less than a year’s time- one bitcoin had cost under $4,000 during the worst financial day of the coronavirus recession.
The world’s primary cryptocurrency has shown its resiliency and strength in the year following the coronavirus pandemic, soaring to new heights of around $40k per coin around Christmas. Some had speculated that the blockchain currency would decline in value after hitting the peak- as it had upon hitting a $20k peak in 2017- but the February run seems to suggest otherwise.
Predictions from major western oligarchs that trade in the cryptocurrency would end in disaster are yet to materialize, and the enduring use and value of the currency may prove it to be an indispensable feature of the global economy.
Hours after Tesla announced its investment in Bitcoin, rumors circulated suggesting that Big Tech company Apple would invest an even greater sum of $5 billion in the cryptocurrency.
Cryptocurrency could prove to be a hallmark institution of a new and decentralized world, siphoning away the power of corrupt governments, financial institutions, and left-wing technology companies.
Follow me on Gab @WildmanAZ, Twitter @Wildman_AZ, and on Parler @Moorhead.
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