Bitcoin breaks key $10,000 mark, reaching 15-month high

The price of the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, bitcoin, crossed the psychological mark of $10,000 on Friday night and further extended the gains on Saturday to hit a 15-month record.

Bitcoin soared more than 10 percent to $10,839.14 per one digital coin at 6:14am GMT on Saturday – its highest price since March 2018. In the hours that followed, it hit another record, topping $11,000, Coinmarketcap data shows.

The most popular currency is still far below its all-time high of nearly $20,000, which was recorded in December 2017, but the recent rally has already managed to erase more than 40 percent of the sell-off seen in the 12 months to December 2018, according to CoinDesk.

This year has been bullish so far for bitcoin. It started at around $3,700 per coin on January 1 but the price of the cryptocurrency has nearly tripled since then.

“No other market in my 45 years of trading has gone parabolic on a log chart in this manner,” veteran trader Peter Brandt wrote on Twitter.

Some analysts link the renewed interest in cryptocurrencies and their recent bullishness to hype surrounding the release of Facebook’s cryptocurrency, which is called Libra. Earlier this month, the social media giant released a whitepaper explaining the project, which is to be launched in 2020. Facebook’s intention to develop the new digital asset in partnership with more than two dozen other corporations has already caused some concerns among European officials and US lawmakers.

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