Bitcoin rose as much as 5.5% on Nov 8 to US$66,339, nearing its previous record of about US$67,000. Ether advanced as much as 3% to a new high of US$4,768.
Of course, crypto is notoriously volatile. The last time Bitcoin reached these levels, it fell back several thousand dollars, and it’s undergone multiple corrections that take it down by half or more. Other coins are even more volatile — the memecoins bounce back and forth wildly at times — and scams and hacks occur with some frequency.
See: Chew Sutat: O crypto tree, O crypto tree
See also: Agency running K-pop group BTS preparing dive into NFT with crypto exchange venture
See also: Bitcoin hits record high of US$120,000 as bullish momentum builds
The crypto market has already roughly quadrupled from its 2020 year-end value, as investors have gotten more comfortable with established tokens and networks like Ethereum and Solana continue to upgrade and attract new functionality. Excitement about the possibilities of decentralised finance and non-fungible tokens is growing, and memecoins like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu continue to attract attention.
Bitcoin’s current rally has been fueled by the US trading debut of a Bitcoin-linked ETF as well as Elon Musk’s weekend Twitter poll, said Ben Caselin, head of research and strategy at crypto exchange AAX. “With Shiba and other memecoins having surged recently, and Facebook’s rebranding to Meta, interest in altcoins continues to rise.”
Photo: Bloomberg