In this photographic illustration, visual representations of the digital cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, are organized on January 4, 2021 in Katwijk, the Netherlands.
Yuriko Nakao | Getty Images
Bitcoin soared on Wednesday to hit a new all-time high as the cryptocurrency continued to trade wildly.
According to Coin Metrics data, the price of bitcoin rose to trade above $ 35,000 in the early hours of the morning. Subsequently, it slightly reduced its profits, trading 1% more, with 34,275.
Bitcoin’s latest all-time high comes just days after falling more than 10% to $ 29,316. This followed after a jump of more than 300% in 2020 to levels above $ 29,000.
On Monday, JPMorgan released a note with a bold long-term pricing target for Bitcoin, stating that the cryptocurrency could rise to $ 146,000 as it competes with gold as an “alternative” currency. The precious metal also experienced significant gains in 2020, with spot gold rising by around 25% during the year.
Anthony Scaramucci, founder and co-managing partner of SkyBridge Capital, also told CNBC’s “Capital Connection” on Wednesday that his company is “quite bullish” on the Bitcoin stock store and sees it as “replacing” gold.
Scaramucci, a former White House communications director, added that democratic control of Congress would be “fantastic” for cryptocurrencies because of expectations of a “tremendous” print of money under a party-controlled federal government.
JPMorgan strategists, however, said Bitcoin will have to be substantially less volatile before it can match gold in terms of market value. It is known that the price of cryptocurrency goes through wild fluctuations.
The call from the American investment banking giant was remarkable given CEO Jamie Dimon’s previous comments about Bitcoin. Dimon once called the cryptocurrency a “fraud.”
Meanwhile, Henri Arslanian, PwC’s world leader in cryoconstruction, told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Monday that the recent rise of bitcoins to record levels was partly driven by the entry of large institutional investors into the market.
Bitcoin bowls have hailed the virtual currency as a cover for gold-like inflation in the face of an unprecedented government stimulus aimed at fighting the coronavirus pandemic. Skeptics see it as a speculative asset with no intrinsic value and a market bubble that is likely to explode at some point.
– Ryan Browne, Saheli Roy Choudhury and Yen Nee Lee of CNBC contributed to this report.