Bitcoin price (BTC) jolts to life, climbing by $1,000 in an hour
Bitcoin’s price rocketed up by about 17 per cent today to reach its highest price in more than two weeks.
The cryptocurrency broke past the $7,000 and $8,000 barriers in a matter of about an hour for the first time since the end of March.
At the time of writing, bitcoin was down from its high of $8,055.20 but was trading up 13.10 per cent at $7,848.88 a coin, according to Coindesk’s aggregate index.
It was the biggest jump bitcoin has made in a single day since December, when it climbed to the heady heights of nearly $20,000.
Matthew Newton, market analyst at eToro, said:
Whilst there has been some stability in the cryptocurrency markets over recent weeks, we’ve seen a record number of short positions building on major exchanges. When the price began to rise this afternoon, a large number of shorts with big positions were squeezed. The resulting interest from buyers increased momentum, causing the price to jump $1000 in 30 minutes.
And Jasper Lawler, head of research at London Capital Group, added:
The renewed interest in cryptos might relate to the need for wealthy Russians and Chinese under pressure from new sanctions and tariffs to covertly send money overseas. Bitcoin’s price surge could well be enough to capture the imagination of traders in what is still a very speculative market.
Read more: Bitcoin is holding on to modest gains after languishing near 2018 lows
Bitcoin was not the only cryptocurrency to rise, however. Ethereum’s ether token, bitcoin cash and Ripple’s XRP all clocked price jumps in the double digits while rising out of the doldrums of the past couple of weeks.
Ether rose as high as $467.11 while bitcoin cash rose to $723.25 and XRP hit $0.56, according to Coindesk.
Meanwhile, reports emerged today that Vietnam’s government was ordering an investigation into allegations of a $658m (£464m) cryptocurrency scam.
Local media reported that Modern Tech Jsc, a Vietnamese firm, was accused of scamming as many as 32,000 people who bought into its Ifan and Pincoin initial coin offerings (ICOs), in which digital currencies are used to raise funds.
In a statement today, the country’s Prime Minister, Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, said he had signed a directive to enhance management of activities related to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
“Virtual currency trading and the initial coin offering (ICO) have threatened stability of the financial market, social order and caused huge risks for related organisations and individuals,” the statement said.
“Thus, the PM has asked the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to direct credit organisations and organisations providing intermediary payment services not to perform transactions related to illegal virtual currency trading and promptly announce illegal transactions as regulated.”
Read more: We must not tarnish blockchain with the bitcoin brush