Today Bitcoin continues to break new records, rising above $10,000 for the first time in its history, according to the CoinMarketCap Index. The world’s most popular cryptocurrency surpassed the historical mark at 11:14 UTC, rapidly bringing new investors in, and becoming more valuable than such giant companies as IBM, McDonald’s, Paypal, Disney, and etc.
At press time, bitcoin is trading at $10,032, while its market capitalization is already more than $167 billion. As bitcoin reaches new highs, the market cap of all digital currencies surged to a record high of over $300 billion yesterday, now making 310 billion.
It seems that Christmas has settled early for all the Bitcoin investors and this is really a historic moment for everyone. Ever since its inception in 2009, Bitcoin has registered unprecedented gains of over 900% in just last one year and is now considered as one of the best investment tools among the global financial corridors. What makes Bitcoin so special in the investor community is that in spite of all the harsh criticism from some of the most powerful minds in the world of finance, it has managed to sustain against all odds.
A major credit for the Bitcoin success is attributed to retail investors who showed absolute confidence in the decentralized network of cryptocurrencies and even forced several giant enterprises and financial institutions to consider developing Bitcoin-based services and investment products. The recent rally, observed over the past month, can be attributed to the announcement by CME Group about Bitcoin futures contract. Following the news, each passing day Bitcoin prices skyrocketed to new record highs with a tremendous increase in trading volumes.
Also, the number of hedge funds that invest in cryptocurrencies has grown tremendously. Only 3 months ago, in August, about 70 new funds were expected to be starting, and now, there are no less than 120 new or modified crypto related funds.
Apart from that, Bitcoin has gained astonishing attention from mainstream media. Not so long ago, news mentioning Bitcoin would surprise if not confuse non-expert average people. Now, major publications mention Bitcoin daily, and no one is thrilled. Bitcoin has become mainstream.
As the result, there has been an increasing shift of investors from stock brokerages to Bitcoin traded exchanges. As per reports, U.S.-based Bitcoin exchange Coinbase, which experienced incredible growth throughout the year as well, is said to have taken over the second largest broker-dealer by assets under management Charles Schwab in the total number of user accounts registered within their systems – Charles Schwab reported 10.6 million active brokerage accounts for October, in contrast with 11.7 million users in October for Coinbase. Widely seen as the easiest way to onboard new users into the crypto world, Coinbase has been registering more than one million unique users per month during the latter half of the year, almost doubling the number of its users in 12 months. Given Bitcoin price’s surge and increasing number of crypto new-comers, Coinbase also managed to become №1 trending Apple App.
