Bitcoin Climbs to a New All-Time High $18,000, Now Contributes $300 Billion in Market Cap
In the past week, the overall cryptocurrency market valuations have surged to a record high above $550 billion. However, this time it has been altcoins like Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple who have majorly contributed to the rally. After the CBOE Bitcoin futures contract going live last Sunday on December 10, there were some initial sparks seen in the market, as the CBOE exchange was flooded with huge orders in just a few moments post launch.
Overall, Bitcoin was seen consolidating over the past week at around $17,500. Now the cryptocurrency is back on a positive momentum and has crossed the $18,000 barrier to trade at its new all-time high of $18,254.53, during the press time as per our data. With this Bitcoin alone contributes $300 billion in market cap, which is 54% of the overall $550 billion cryptocurrency market.
It is just yesterday that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a feedback on their year-long discussion about the Blockchain technology which backs Bitcoins. Respondents have said that the existing FCA rules are flexible to accommodate the use of distributed ledger technology. Note that Bitcoin is completely decentralized and the FCA doesn’t regulate it in any way.
Having crossed $18,000, Bitcoin has given 1800% returns in the past one year since it started its journey of 2017 at a price of $1,000. Bitcoin manages to climb new highs against persistent attempts and warning of a bubble with many famous economists and finance professionals saying that it can collapse anytime.
A report by Anglia Ruskin University, Trinity College Dublin and Dublin City University writes “Our evidence finds that the price of bitcoin has been artificially inflated by speculative investment, putting it in a bubble. Although bitcoin is not regulated by governments, it could still have a knock-on effect on traditional markets due to the interconnectedness of cryptocurrency markets with other financial assets.”
As Bitcoin continues its journey with a northward momentum, Japan still continues to lead the pack as the Japanese yen captures 40% of the overall market. Since the launch of CBOE’s global markets, the share of U.S dollar has increased to 33% which is further expected to grow as the launch futures contract by the CME group is just two days away.
With Bitcoin, altcoins too are showing the strength in the market these days. Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple have showing crazy momentum in the past one week and recently have also been added to the Bloomberg terminals. This is a testimony to the fact that other cryptocurrencies backed with strong technology are also being seriously considered to arrive in the mainstream.
CME’s Bitcoin futures contracts are launching next week and we can possibly expect more momentum and spikes ahead.