The price of Bitcoin finally reached the psychological level of $8,000 again earlier today, paving way for a possible uptick in value to $10,000.
At 08:29 UTC, Bitcoin was recorded as crossing the $8,000 mark, at $8,006, according to CoinMarketCap.
At the time of publishing, it’s valued even higher at $8,181, representing a near 6.50 per cent rise in 24 hours. This rise marks the highest it has been since May, and highlights a 40 per cent increase from its lowest point of the year, which was at the end of June.
In light of the news, John McAfee said on Twitter that:
“I think the past week has shown that the bull market is right around the corner. A couple of months later than I thought, but in the long term, an insignificant delay.”
This latest Bitcoin price rally comes after months of uncertainty within the market following the bull run toward the end of 2017. Interestingly, prior to the number one cryptocurrency reaching $8,000 again, Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro, said online that:
“We might just be on the cusp of the largest Bitcoin bull run in history.”
Ethereum, XRP, and Litecoin have also experienced price increases. However, Stellar, currently ranking in sixth-place behind EOS and in front of Litecoin, has seen the biggest price jump in seven days, at 28.55 per cent. It’s currently valued at $0.302040.
There are, of course, several possibilities as to why Bitcoin’s price is on the up.
The first one could be down to an filing for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) submitted by money management firm VanEck for the third time to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. VanEck is teaming up with blockchain company SolidX on this latest attempt. If successful, it could push Bitcoin’s price higher. According to an unconfirmed report by the ICO Journal, one source from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is reported to have said they are “nearly certain” that a Bitcoin ETF will be approved. A second source from the SEC thinks this may happen in September.
Another reason may be the result of Google announcing yesterday that it is teaming up with New York-based Digital Asset to “explore ways they might use distributed ledger technology (DLT) frameworks.” It will be doing this through Digital Asset and another partnership it has with BlockApps.
Not only that, but institutional investor interest is rising. Adam White, vice president and general manager at Coinbase, said last week that institutional investor interest was helping to drive the market. In a blog post from May, the San Francisco-based crypto exchange noted that the market is “maturing rapidly” as institutional participants enter the space. Targeting institutional investors, Coinbase Custody is reported to have added 10 hedge funds and family offices who are seeking to safeguard digital assets similarly to traditional securities. By the end of the year, Coinbase is aiming to have 100 large institutional customers using its Coinbase Custody service.
One other factor to consider is a recent U.S. committee hearing that had a favourable outlook on cryptocurrencies. The House Committee on Agriculture, led by committee chairman, Michael Conaway, said that he recognised the market as an “emerging policy area.”
He added that digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ether, “represent a new way for people to interact and exchange in commerce with one another.”
With this positive news for Bitcoin’s price, it remains to be seen whether it can continue to $10,000.