Bitcoin hits $10,000 in dramatic weekend surge

Early Sunday morning, the price of Bitcoin hit $10,000 for the first time in 2020, marking a four-month high for the original cryptocurrency.

Shortly after 3am Sunday morning, Bitcoin’s price broke through the $10,000 barrier; the last time Bitcoin was priced at $10,000 was in September 2019. It’s still a long way short of its all-time high of nearly $20,000, back in February 2017, however.

Bitcoin’s upward trend continues

Bitcoin’s upward trend has continued throughout the day; at time of writing, the price of Bitcoin sits just above of $10,102, up 3.10% on the previous day, with the cryptocurrency’s total market cap currently standing just shy of $184 billion. Its price is up around 40% from the start of the year, when BTC stood at $7,218.

The wider market is buoyant, too, with all the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap posting gains. Ethereum up 1.5% to $229, after reachin a five-month high earlier in the week, while Tezos has posted gains of 13.43% to reach $2.43 and Monero 6.60%, to reach $85.04.

Opinions are divided as to whether Bitcoin’s impending halving in May 2020—in which the block reward for mining drops from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC—will cause its price to shoot up, or whether it’s already “priced in”. In the short term, its upward trend looks set to continue.