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The price of bitcoin crossed another major milestone on Friday as the market value of the cryptocurrency topped $ 1 trillion, according to Coindesk.
The digital currency was trading at just under $ 54,000 per coin on Friday when it reached the new level and reached a high of $ 54,880 later in the session, according to Coin Metrics. The price of bitcoin has now risen by about 350% in the last six months. Prior to the recent increase, digital assets were never trading above $ 20,000.
The measure has been driven in part by increased cryptocurrency adoption by major investors and companies. The oldest bank in the United States, Bank of New York Mellon, announced earlier this month that it was moving into space. Elon Musk’s Tesla converted part of its cash balance to bitcoins earlier this year and said it would begin accepting digital tokens as payment.
Bitcoin “has started to get so big that it is certainly creating its own demand as companies and institutions begin to foray into a field they wouldn’t have touched a few months earlier,” said Jim Reid, research strategist at Deutsche Bank. “Ironically it is becoming a credible asset class for many by meeting too late and also by achieving an increase in institutional buying.”
The market value is calculated by multiplying the price of bitcoin by the number created. While not a perfect comparison, the market value of a trillion dollars will make the value of Bitcoin superior to all but a handful of global stocks. Tesla, for example, has a market cap of about $ 700 billion, while Apple is valued at more than $ 2 trillion.
Pro-bitcoin investors and entrepreneurs celebrated the milestone on social media.
“From the white paper to $ 1 trillion. #Bitcoin eat live gold, ”Cameron Winklevoss of Gemini said on Twitter.
“RIP bears,” tweeted Morgan Creek Digital Assets co-founder Anthony Pompliano.
Of course, not everyone on Wall Street has been convinced of Bitcoin’s future prospects. Citadel Securities founder Ken Griffin said Friday that he was not interested in cryptocurrency, while JPMorgan researchers have said Bitcoin’s concentration is unsustainable.