The digital currency Bitcoin continued to soar on the third day of the year.
On Sunday morning, the Bitcoin rate on the Luxembourg trading platform Bitstamp rose to $ 34,800. Bitcoin could not quite maintain the level, however, at $ 33,517.45, it was around five percent above the level of late trading on Saturday evening. This means that the price gains add up to around $ 5,000 or 17 percent in the new year alone.
On other trading venues, of which there are numerous, the record levels can deviate as there is no central Bitcoin trading.
Bitcoin's recent soaring is breathtaking. Started at around $ 8,000 at the beginning of 2020, the rate initially fell to less than $ 4,000 during the first Corona wave in spring.
After that, a slow rise began, which accelerated sharply in the fall. Since the end of September, the price has climbed by more than $ 23,000, or around 220 percent.
Bitcoin is the oldest and by far the best-known digital currency. Experts had recently estimated the market capitalization to be around $ 600 billion. There is no suitable reason for the rise in Bitcoin to the current record high shortly after the turn of the year. For the latest soaring, however, the market repeatedly cites that the digital currency has recently moved more into the focus of large financial investors and is in greater demand.
Above all, the announcement of the payment service PayPal that it would allow its customers to pay with Bitcoins resulted in an enormous surge in demand. Interest in digital currencies is also being increased by the corona pandemic and the associated sharp rise in national debt. For this reason, some investors fear rising inflation in the medium to longer term, which they want to hedge against with alternative investments.
However, experts also warn of the extreme price fluctuations in Bitcoin. Three years ago, the rate of the digital currency collapsed by around 70 percent in a short time. However, there is currently hardly any trace of this skepticism. On Saturday alone, Bitcoin jumped four thousand marks, whereby, according to expert Tilo Emden, the 30,000 mark was primarily responsible for the rapid rise in prices
"Mastering the mental mark of $ 30,000 should have additionally fueled the rally," he wrote in a short study on Saturday evening. "Rising price levels are attracting private investors who have waited a long time behind the sidelines and flirted with engagements. Market participants waste no thought on the risks and side effects of the highly volatile asset class. Because the bull market feeds itself almost entirely by itself." Investors are in a rush of heights and are longing for new records.