Bitcoin extends its rally to an all-time high close to $50,000

0

By Joanna Ossinger and Eric Lam

Bitcoin reached another record, coming ever closer to $50,000, as the world’s largest cryptocurrency extends its breathtaking rally.

The token climbed as much as 3.6 per cent to $49,913 in Asian trading Tuesday, according to a composite of prices compiled by Bloomberg. Bitcoin’s volatile, fivefold advance over the past year towers above the returns from more traditional investments like stocks, gold and commodities.

Bitcoin’s ascent has been buoyed by the widening adoption of the cryptocurrency, most notably Tesla Inc.’s disclosure this month of a $1.5 billion purchase. Yet a debate continues about whether the token has any intrinsic value at all, amid warnings that investors could be left with big losses because cryptocurrencies remain highly speculative.

“Bitcoin volatility is likely to continue rising in the near term and remain elevated until it settles in around its next plateau,” said Mike McGlone, a commodity strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, who added that $100,000 may be a longer term target.

Bloomberg

A flurry of recent announcements indicates that Bitcoin is winning more mainstream attention, after Tesla’s purchase catapulted cryptocurrencies onto the agenda of corporate treasurers worldwide.
For instance, an investment unit of Morgan Stanley is considering whether to bet on Bitcoin, according to people with knowledge of the matter. In Canada, officials approved the first North American Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.

BNY Mellon has said it’s formed a new team that’s developing a custody and administration platform for traditional and digital assets. Mastercard Inc. plans to allow cardholders to transact in certain cryptocurrencies on its network.

Volatility

Digital tokens had already caught the attention of hedge fund moguls including Alan Howard and Paul Tudor Jones. On one disputed narrative, Bitcoin is a kind of digital bullion that provides a store of value as well as a hedge for risks such as faster inflation. That’s in part because it’s designed to have a fixed supply of 21 million coins.

Amid the hype, there continue to be warnings that cryptocurrencies are prone to wild price swings, deployed for illicit transactions and exposed to tightening regulations — storing up a lot of risk.

“It’s important to remember that Bitcoin never moves up in a straight line,” said Antoni Trenchev, managing partner and co-founder of Nexo in London, one of the biggest crypto lenders. “Short-term volatility is very much a feature of this bull market and investors should prepare accordingly.”

var urlParams = window.URLSearchParams && new URLSearchParams(window.location.search),
optParam = urlParams.get && urlParams.get('opt');

var objSec = {template: 'articleshow_main', msid:'80971044', secNames: ['markets','stocks','news'],secIds:['2147477890','1977021501','2146842','2146843']};

var tmplName = tpName="articleshow_main",lang = '',nav_sec1,newHookId,subsec1_value,subsec1_common = '1977021501',newHookId2,subsec2_value,subsec2_common = '2146842';
var objVc = {version_on:'20210216121200',js_newyearsale:'8',js_etsubscription:'1',js_onboarding_popup_sh:'6',js_comments:'111',js_googleslock:'782',js_googlelogin:'56',js_common_buydirect:'749',js_bookmark:'18',js_login:'46',js_datepicker:'2',js_electionsmn:'22',js_push:'54',css_buydirect:'14',js_tradenow:'19',js_commonall:'138',lib_login:'https://jssocdn.indiatimes.com/crosswalk/jsso_crosswalk_legacy_0.5.9.min.js',live_tv:'{"onoff_flag":"0","platform":"desktop","sections":["79755474","1715249553","13352306","13357270","897228639","1466318837"],"pages":"all","auto_open":"1","default_tv":"1","timePeriod":{"showTimeFlag":false,"fromTime":"","toTime":""}}',global_cube:'0',global_cube_wap:'0',global_cube_faces:'2',global_cube_fullad:'0',global_cube_landingon:'sensex',global_cube_wap_url:'https://m.economictimes.com/iframe_cube.cms',site_sync:'0',adx:'1',amazon_bidding:'1',js_newsltrpopup:'119',nlExpiry:'864000',nlReloadExpiry:'30',fan_ads:'0',trackAdCode:'0',ajaxError:'1',oauth:'oauth',planPage:"https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/plans.cms",planPageTest:'https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/plans.cms',subscriptions:'subscriptions',krypton:'kryptonp',apw:'apw',nlSubscribe:'etsub3'};
if(window.location.host == 'economictimes-pp.indiatimes.com') {
objVc.oauth="oauth-pp";
objVc.krypton = 'krypton-pp';
objVc.subscriptions="subscriptions-pp";
objVc.apw = 'apw-pp';
}
var objDim = {d52:'nature_of_content',d96:'continuous_paywall_hits',d95:'monthly_article_count',d10:'user_login_status_hit',d54:'content_shelf_life',d98:'daily_paid_article_count',d53:'content_target_audience',d97:'monthly_paid_article_count',d12:'tags_meta_keyword',d56:'degree_of_conten',d11:'content_theme_the_primary_tag',d55:'content_tone',d14:'special_coverage',d58:'et_product_item',d13:'article_publish_time',d16:'video_embed',d15:'audio_embed',d59:'show_paywall_final',d61:'paywall_probability',d60:'paywall_score',d63:'paid_articles_read',d62:'eligibility_paywall_rule',d65:'bureau_articles_read',d20:'platform',d64:'free_articles_read',d23:'author_id',d67:'loyalty',d66:'article_length',d25:'page_template',d24:'syft_initiate_page',d68:'paywall_hits',d27:'site_sub_section',d26:'site_section',d29:'section_id',d28:'prime_deal_code',d70:'us_election_2020',d72:'paywall_experiment',d71:'plan_group_id',d32:'prime_article_read_before_syft',d75:'watchlist_active_status',d34:'content_age',d33:'prime_article_read_before_success',d36:'sign_in_initiation_position',d35:'subscription_method_hit',d37:'user_subscription_status',d1:'et_product',d2:'blocker_type',d3:'user_login_status_hit',d4:'agency',d5:'author_name',d6:'cms_content_publishing_type',d7:'content_personalisation_level',d8:'article_publish_date',d9:'sub_section_name',d40:'freeread',d45:'prime_hp_ui_template',d47:'prime_hp_ui_content_b_color',d46:'prime_hp_ui_content_size',d49:'syft_initiate_position',d48:'content_msid',d92:'last_click_source',d50:'signin_initiate_page',d94:'daily_article_count',d93:'internal_source'};var serverTime="02.16.2021 12:16:10";var WRInitTime=(new Date()).getTime();
(function () {if (self !== top) {var e = function (s) {return document.getElementsByTagName(s)}; e("head")[0].innerHTML = '

'; setTimeout(function () {e("body")[0].innerHTML = ''; var hEle = e("html")[0]; hEle.innerHTML = 'economictimes.indiatimes.com'; hEle.className=""; top.location = self.location; }, 0);}})();

_log = window.console && console.log ? console.log : function () {};
// Creating Elements for IE : HTML 5 and cross domain checks
(function () { var elem = ["article", "aside", "figure", "footer", "figcaption", "header", "nav", "section", "time"];
for(var i=0; i<=elem.length-1; i++) {document.createElement(elem[i])} var hd = 'indiatimes.com', dd = document.domain,intv,intv2,fo; if (dd != hd && dd.indexOf(hd) != -1) {document.domain = hd} })(); var intv,intv2;var fo; if(subsec1_value == '1715249553' && subsec2_value == '1052732854'){ subsec1_value = newHookId = '1052732854'; // politicsnation }else if(subsec1_value == '1715249553' && subsec2_value == '1373380680'){ subsec1_value = newHookId = '1373380680'; // Economy } if(optParam != "1") { customDimension = window.customDimension || {}; var _gaq = _gaq || []; var customDimension = customDimension || {}; var analytics_js_path="https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js"; (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script',analytics_js_path,'ga'); var gaProperty = 'UA-198011-5'; var disableStr="ga-disable"; if (document.cookie.indexOf(disableStr + '=true') > -1) { window[disableStr + '-' + gaProperty] = true; }

ga('set', 'anonymizeIp', true);
ga('create', gaProperty, 'auto', {'allowLinker': true});
ga('require', 'linker');
ga('linker:autoLink', ['economictimes.com']);
ga('require', 'displayfeatures');
window.optimizely = window.optimizely || [];
window.optimizely.push("activateUniversalAnalytics");
ga('require', 'GTM-WV452H7');
customDimension.dimension1 = "ET Free";
customDimension.dimension4 = "Bloomberg";

customDimension.dimension6 = "Native - 80971044";
customDimension.dimension8 = "Feb 16, 2021";
customDimension.dimension9 = "Stocks";

customDimension.dimension12 = "bitcoin,bitcoin rally,cryptocurrency,Tesla,mastercard,Morgan Stanley";
customDimension.dimension13 = "12:16 PM IST";

customDimension.dimension15 = "No";
customDimension.dimension16 = "No";

(function () {
var a = window.localStorage && localStorage.getItem('et_syftCounter') || '';
a = a && JSON.parse(a) || {};
if(a.beforeSyft && customDimension) {
customDimension.dimension32 = a.beforeSyft;
}
if(a.afterSyft) {
customDimension.dimension33 = a.afterSyft;
}
})()

var contentAge="-0.00005787037037037037";
if(contentAge) {
customDimension.dimension34 = contentAge > 2 ? '>48hs':'<48hrs'; } if(customDimension){ customDimension.dimension25 = "articleshow_main"; customDimension.dimension26 = "Markets"; customDimension.dimension27 = "Markets/Stocks/News/"; customDimension.dimension29 = "1977021501"; customDimension.dimension48 = "80971044"; customDimension.dimension57 = _tiluuid; } var trafficSource=""; function getjStorageVal(keyName) { var jString = localStorage.getItem("jStorage"), value=""; try { if(jString) { var objJstorage = JSON.parse(jString); value = objJstorage[keyName] ? objJstorage[keyName] : ''; } } catch (e) {} return value; } (function () { function addZero(num) {return (num >= 0 && num < 10) ? '0' + num : num;} try { lastClick = getjStorageVal('etu_last_click'); if(!lastClick) { lastClick = document.referrer.indexOf('indiatimes.com') == -1 ? 'direct_landing_articleshow' : 'other'; } var dref = document.referrer, wlh = window.location.href.toLowerCase(), wlp = window.location.pathname; if(/google|bing|yahoo/ig.test(dref)) {trafficSource="organic";} else if(/facebook|linkedin|instagram|twitter/ig.test(dref) || wlh.indexOf('utm_medium=social') != -1) { trafficSource="social";} else if(wlh.indexOf('utm_medium=email') != -1) {trafficSource="newsletter"; } else if(getjStorageVal('etu_source')) { trafficSource = getjStorageVal('etu_source');} if(!trafficSource) { if(wlp == "https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/" || wlp == '/default.cms') {trafficSource="direct"} else if(wlp.indexOf('articleshow')) {trafficSource="organic"} else {trafficSource="other"} } var dtObject = new Date(), dt = (dtObject.getFullYear() + '' + addZero(dtObject.getMonth() + 1) + '' + addZero(dtObject.getDate())), key = 'et_article_' + dt; var articleReadCountToday = (getjStorageVal(key) || []).length; var articleReadCountMonth = 0; var paidArticleReadCountMonth = 0; var jString = localStorage.getItem("jStorage"); try { if(jString) { var objJstorage = JSON.parse(jString); Object.keys(objJstorage).filter(function(key) {return key.indexOf('et_article_') != -1}).forEach(function (key) { articleReadCountMonth += getjStorageVal(key).length}); Object.keys(objJstorage).filter(function(key) {return key.indexOf('et_primearticle_') != -1}).forEach(function (key) { paidArticleReadCountMonth += getjStorageVal(key) || 0}); } } catch (e) {} var paidArticleReadCountTodayKey = 'et_primearticle_' + dt; var paidArticleReadCountToday = getjStorageVal(paidArticleReadCountTodayKey) || 0; var continuousPaywallList = getjStorageVal('et_continuousPaywalled') || []; customDimension.dimension92 = lastClick; customDimension.dimension93 = trafficSource; customDimension.dimension94 = articleReadCountToday; customDimension.dimension95 = articleReadCountMonth; customDimension.dimension96 = continuousPaywallList.length; customDimension.dimension97 = paidArticleReadCountMonth; customDimension.dimension98 = paidArticleReadCountToday; } catch (e) {} })(); ga('send', 'pageview', customDimension); var newHookId ='1977021501'; var newHookId2 = '2146842'; if(newHookId == '1715249553' && newHookId2 == '1052732854'){ newHookId = '1052732854'; // politicsnation }else if(newHookId == '1715249553' && newHookId2 == '1373380680'){ newHookId = '1373380680'; // Economy } var subsec1_value="1977021501", subsec1_2value="2146842"; if(subsec1_value == '1715249553' && subsec1_2value == '1052732854'){ subsec1_value="1052732854"; // politicsnation }else if(subsec1_value == '1715249553' && subsec1_2value == '1373380680'){ subsec1_value="1373380680"; // Economy } (function (g, r, o, w, t, h, rx) { g[t] = g[t] || function () {(g[t].q = g[t].q || []).push(arguments) }, g[t].l = 1 * new Date(); g[t] = g[t] || {}, h = r.createElement(o), rx = r.getElementsByTagName(o)[0]; h.async = 1;h.src = w;rx.parentNode.insertBefore(h, rx) })(window, document, 'script', 'https://static.growthrx.in/js/v2/web-sdk.js', 'grx'); grx('init', 'gf999c70d'); var grxDimension = {url: window.location.href, title : document.title, referral_url : document.referrer}; if(window.customDimension && window.objDim) { for(key in customDimension) { var dimId = 'd' + key.substr(9, key.length); if(objDim[dimId] && typeof customDimension[key] != 'undefined') { grxDimension[objDim[dimId]] = customDimension[key]; } } } var subsStatus="Free User"; var jData = JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('jStorage')); function getCookie(n) {var ne = n + "=", ca = document.cookie.split(';');for (var i=0;i< ca.length;i++){ var c = ca[i]; while (c.charAt(0) == ' ') c = c.substring(1, c.length); if (c.indexOf(ne) == 0) return c.substring(ne.length, c.length); } return null; } (function () { if(ssoid = getCookie('ssoid')) { try { grx('userId', ssoid); var pfuuid = getCookie('pfuuid'); if(pfuuid) { grxDimension['et_uuid'] = pfuuid} grxDimension[objDim['d3']] = 'LOGGEDIN'; var grx_userData = jData['prime_'+getCookie('TicketId')]; grx_userData = grx_userData || {}; var grx_userPermission = grx_userData.permissions; if(grx_userPermission.indexOf("expired_subscription") > -1) {
subsStatus="Expired User";
} else if (grx_userPermission.indexOf("subscribed") > -1 && grx_userPermission.indexOf("cancelled_subscription") > -1 && grx_userPermission.indexOf("can_buy_subscription") > -1) {
subsStatus="Paid User - In Trial";
} else if(grx_userPermission.indexOf("subscribed") > -1) {
subsStatus="Paid User";
} else if(grx_userPermission.indexOf("etadfree_subscribed") > -1) {
subsStatus="Ad Free User";
}
} catch (e) {}
} else {
grxDimension[objDim['d3']] = 'NONLOGGEDIN';
}
grxDimension[objDim['d37']] = subsStatus;
try {
if(window.localStorage && localStorage.getItem) {
var jString = localStorage.getItem("jStorage");
if(jString) {
var objJstorage = JSON.parse(jString), objProf = objJstorage['et_subscription_profile'];
for (var attrname in objProf) { grxDimension[attrname] = objProf[attrname]; }
}
}
}catch(e) {
console.log('Error profile Dimension');
}
})()

grx('track', 'page_view', grxDimension);

if(window.allowGdpr == 1 && (typeof skip == 'undefined' || typeof skip.fbevents == 'undefined')) {
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',
'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js');
fbq('init', '338698809636220');
fbq('track', 'PageView');
}

var _comscore = _comscore || [];
_comscore.push({ c1: "2", c2: "6036484"});

if(window.allowGdpr == 1) {
(function() {
var s = document.createElement('script'), el = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; s.async = true;
s.src = (document.location.protocol == "https:" ? "https://sb" : "http://b") + ".scorecardresearch.com/beacon.js";
el.parentNode.insertBefore(s, el);
})();
}

if(window.allowGdpr == 1) {
(function() {
function pingIbeat() {
window._pg_endpt=(new Date()).getTime();
var e = document.createElement('script');
e.setAttribute('language', 'javascript');
e.setAttribute('type', 'text/javascript');
e.setAttribute('async', true);
var dt = window.dateFormat ? dateFormat(new Date(), '%Y%M%d') : 1;
var sd = window.objDomain && objDomain.js || '';
e.setAttribute('src', sd + '/js_ibeat_ext.cms?v=' + dt);
//e.setAttribute('src', "https://agi-static.indiatimes.com/cms-common/ibeat.min.js");
document.head.appendChild(e);
}
if(typeof window.addEventListener == 'function') {
window.addEventListener("load", pingIbeat, false);
} else {
var oldonload = window.onload;
window.onload = (typeof window.onload != 'function') ?
pingIbeat : function() { oldonload(); pingIbeat(); };
}
})();
}

}

FOLLOW US ON GOOGLE NEWS

Read original article here

Leave a comment