The world's largest cryptocurrency hit $41,983, taking gains from Thursday's lows to nearly 16%, and marking a 27% rise from the year's low of $32,950.72 on Jan. 24. Ether, the coin linked to the ethereum blockchain network, scaled the $3,000 level for the first time since Jan. 21.Friday's 11%-plus was the biggest single-day gain for bitcoin since mid-June, and the first major bounce after weeks of being roiled, along with technology and growth stocks, by fears of faster-than-expected Fed rate hikes to curb a surge in inflation.
It came alongside a rally in U.S. stocks, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq ending the week with gains despite the heavy volatility from earnings, including Amazon's robust growth and Facebook-owner Meta Platforms Inc's disappointing results.
Those synchronised moves showed how bitcoin has become far more of a mainstream asset, jolted by swings in risk-appetite.
"The current panic and volatility surrounding bitcoin is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of it as an asset class," said Ed Hindi, chief investment officer of Swiss-based cryptocurrency hedgefund Tyr Capital.
"When valuations on the Nasdaq fall, misguided institutional investors start liquidating bitcoin positions en-masse as if it were a tech stock."
The recovery in stocks boosted other listed crypto assets on Friday, with miner Riot Blockchain getting a bump after declaring bitcoin production more than doubled in January from a year earlier.
(Reporting by Rachna Dhanrajani in Bengaluru and Vidya Ranganathan in Singapore; Additional reporting by Lisa Mattackal in Bengaluru; Editing by William Mallard)2009–2015
Bitcoin had a price of zero when it was introduced in 2009. On July 17, 2010, its price jumped to $.09.2 Bitcoin's price rose again on April 13, 2011, from $1 to a peak of $29.60 by June 7, 2021, a gain of 2,960% within three months. 3 A sharp recession in cryptocurrency markets followed, and Bitcoin's price bottomed out at $2.05 by mid-November.4 The following year, its price rose from $4.85 on May 9 to $13.50 by Aug. 15.52012 proved to be a generally uneventful year for Bitcoin, but 2013 witnessed strong gains in price. It began the year trading at $13.28 and reached $230 on April 8; an equally rapid deceleration in its price followed, bringing its price down to $68.50 a few weeks later on July 4.6In early October, Bitcoin was trading at $123.00; by December, it had spiked to $1,237.55 and fell to $687.02 three days later.7 Bitcoin's prices slumped through 2014 and touched $315.21 at the start of 2015.
2016 2017
Prices slowly climbed through 2016 to over $900 by the end of the year.9 In 2017, Bitcoin's price hovered around $1,000 until it broke $2,000 in mid-May and then skyrocketed to $19,345.49 on Dec. 15.10 Mainstream investors, governments, economists, and scientists took notice, and other entities began developing cryptocurrencies to compete with Bitcoin. Bitcoin's price moved sideways for the next two years with small bursts of activity. For example, there was a resurgence in price and trading volume in June 2019, with prices surpassing $10,000. However, it fell to $6,635.84 by mid-December.11In 2020 the economy shut down due to the COIVD-19 pandemic—Bitcoin's price burst into activity once again. The cryptocurrency started the year at $6,965.72. The pandemic shutdown and subsequent government policy fed investors' fears about the global economy and accelerated Bitcoin's rise. At close on Nov. 23, Bitcoin was trading for $19,157.16. Bitcoin's price reached just under $29,000 in December 2020, increasing 416% from the start of that year.
2021- present
Bitcoin took less than a month in 2021 to smash its 2020 price record, surpassing $40,000 by Jan. 7, 2021. By mid-April, Bitcoin prices reached new all-time highs of over $60,000 as Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, went public.13 Institutional interest further propelled its price upward, and Bitcoin reached a peak of more than $63,000 on April 12, 2021.14
By the summer of 2021, prices were down by 50%, hitting $29,795.55 at the lowest on July 19. Autumn saw another bull run in September, with prices scraping $52,693.32, but a large drawdown took it to $40,709.59 about two weeks later.15
On Nov. 7, 2021, Bitcoin again reached an all-time high, $67,549.14. In early December 2021, Bitcoin fell to $49,243.39 before fluctuating more as uncertainty about inflation continued to spook investors alongside the emergence of a new variant of COVID-19, Omicron.16
El Salvador made Bitcoin legal tender on June 9, 2021. It was the first country to do so, and it can be used for any transaction where businesses accept it.17
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