Bitcoin’s price could exceed $50 000 over the longer term as the digital asset vies with gold for investment flows, according to cryptocurrency exchange Luno and brokerage OSL.
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Ether, the second biggest crypto asset after bitcoin, hit its previous all-time high of US$1Â 400 this month and is trading at 130 times its price of four years ago. Astonishingly, the rally may be far from over.
Bitcoin wavered on Friday and was heading toward its sharpest weekly drop since September, as worries over regulation and its frothy rally drove a pullback from recent record highs.
Bitcoin slumped 10% on Thursday to a 10-day low of $31 977 as the world’s most popular cryptocurrency continued to retreat from the $42 000 record high hit on 8 January.
The investigation into a failed South African bitcoin trader is deepening as provisional liquidators appointed to seize control of Mirror Trading International seek to widen the scope of their inquiry.
More big investors are speculating that bitcoin will gain wider acceptance and shake up the financial world, maybe by filling the role of gold as a hedge against inflation better than gold can.
European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde called on Wednesday for global regulation of bitcoin, saying the digital currency had been used for money laundering activities.
The white-knuckle bitcoin ride took another twist on Monday as a two-day tumble in the digital currency stoked concern that the polarising cryptocurrency boom may run out of steam.
Bitcoin jumped more than 5% on Friday to fresh record highs of $41 530, reversing losses from earlier in the session. It has now rallied nearly 1 000% since a low in March.
The total market value of cryptocurrencies surpassed $1-trillion for the first time on Thursday amid a frenzied and volatile rally in bitcoin to yet another record.