Bitcoin Price Rises 9% in 24 Hours to Hit $18,000

By Jeff Benson

This is getting to be monotonous. 

Less than a day after surging above $17,000 in value, Bitcoin has reached $18,000 for the first time since December 2017.

The price increase comes with a fresh record for market capitalization, which now sits at above $334 billion. 

In the last 24 hours, Bitcoin’s price has risen in value by a whopping 9% and now is above $18,150. 

Nexo co-founder Antoni Trenchev said, “A few recent events have undoubtedly had an impact: institutional investment by the likes of MicroStrategy and Square, PayPal actively shilling crypto, and the Bitcoin halving in May, among others.” 

MicroStrategy, a public company led by Bitcoin convert Michael Saylor, made its first Bitcoin investment (21,454 for a then-$250 million) in early August when BTC was in the $11,000 range.

In early October, Jack Dorsey-founded Square bought 4,709 Bitcoin (then worth $50 million), when the price was a smidge below $11,000.

By October 21, Square alternative PayPal had joined the fray, announcing it would allow users to purchase Bitcoin on its app. The price was in the $12,000’s at that point, not even a month ago; it hasn’t been below that mark since on its march to $18,000.

Trenchev believes, however, that this isn’t merely the result of recent events, but of solid long-term fundamentals. “It is also worth pointing out that Bitcoin’s success is not temporary: the one-year HODL wave, which reveals how many investors hold BTC for over a year, is at an all-time high,” he said.

Lucas Huang, who’s head of growth for decentralized exchange Tokenlon, said, “Is the top already in? We can’t tell, but our users are certainly interested in Bitcoin’s rallying price...We may not wait long to see [a] Bitcoin all-time-high again.”

That number, for those keeping track at home, is $20,089, which happened in December 2017. At the pace we’re going, we’ll be back to $20,000 by December 2020.

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