Bitcoin (BTC) hit a new all-time high above the vaunted $50,000 mark, late Monday, proving once again that the path of least resistance for the world’s dominant cryptocurrency is on the higher side.
The coin, which has rallied more than 70% year-to-date, has gotten a boost from names like Tesla (TSLA) and Matercard (MA). The electric car maker announced in an SEC filing last week that it had bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin while financial transaction processing giant Mastercard (MA) said it plans to begin supporting select cryptos on its payment network.
Interest from Wall Street institutions like BNY Mellon and Morgan Stanley (MS) — if you recall, chief executive Jamie Dimon called Bitcoin a “fraud” in September 2017 — is also adding momentum and legitimacy to the crypto’s rally.
Bitcoin crossing the $50K psychological level comes amid a string of positive news, including that of Twitter (TWTR) CEO Jack Dorsey and rapper Jay-Z announcing that they want to make Bitcoin the “internet’s currency.”
Dorsey tweeted that he and Jay-Z gave 500 bitcoins (around $24 million) to an endowment called Btrust to fund the development of the digital currency. Dorsey also said the development will initially be focused on teams in Africa and India, but that he and Jay-Z plan to give “zero direction” to the plans.
JAY-Z/@S_C_ and I are giving 500 BTC to a new endowment named ₿trust to fund #Bitcoin development, initially focused on teams in Africa & India. It‘ll be set up as a blind irrevocable trust, taking zero direction from us. We need 3 board members to start: https://t.co/L4mRBryMJe
— jack (@jack) February 12, 2021
Bitcoin’s price was up more than 5% to $50,307 at 7.32 am ET on Coindesk.
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