Over the past few months, Bitcoin (BTC) has been surging and it has hit a new year-to-date high surpassing the $9,000 level for the second time in 2019, a feat that has left investors looking at the $10,000 mark.
Bitcoin Rallying
Bitcoin is 151% up year-to-date and the rallying of the most popular cryptocurrency has been associated with the inauguration of the CME Bitcoin futures market. In the last session, the coin was up by 7.50%, hitting price highs per of $9,387 on Bitstamp Exchange before experiencing a slight fall.
At the beginning of the week, BTC price was around $8,100, with the “real 10” volume of the cryptocurrency being $600 million. Bitcoin price has benefitted from the growing price of Litecoin, which has gained close to 19% in the past week. The rise in BTC comes at the back of a spike in trading volume by more than $19 billion worth of the crypto asset traded across various exchanges in the last session.
At the time of writing, BTC is trading at $9,310.
>> Bakkt Announces Bitcoin Futures Launch Date in July
Facebook’s Anticipated Launch of Digital Currency
The cryptocurrency industry has been enhanced with the latest news that Facebook is likely to launch its own digital currency with details expected to be unveiled on Tuesday. Facebook is said to have secured the services of Uber, Spotify, and Visa. Although Facebook’s digital coin is expected to compete with Bitcoin, it is rather seen as a validation of blockchain technology and value.
Equally, the coin is benefiting from the general improvement in sentiment regarding cryptocurrencies. The anticipated halving of Bitcoin in the next year has also led to the surge in BTC price and investors and traders are looking forward to the event that will see a cut in Bitcoin supply by half, while some are foreseeing a supply shock.
Bakkt Exchange, backed by Starbucks and Intercontinental Exchange, expects to start accepting beta testers on its platform beginning next month.
Featured image: DepositPhotos © Syda_Productions
