Bitcoin pushes past $48,000 to new record high
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Bitcoin is extending its gain this morning, hitting a new record high of $48,216 during late afternoon trading in Asia.
The cryptocurrency was driven to fresh record highs overnight – it traded above $47,000 late last night UK time – on the news that Elon Musk’s Tesla bought $1.5bn worth of the cryptocurrency.
In the same announcement, the electric vehicle manufacturer revealed that it intends to accept the digital currency as a method of payment too.
“One of the criticisms of Bitcoin is that far too few vendors accept it as legal tender but as more well-known names accept it, that should help bring it a step further to becoming more mainstream,” commented David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
“Four months ago, PayPal announced it would facilitate Bitcoin payments, which gave the cryptocurrency a shot in the arm,” he told City A.M. this morning.