Bitcoin breached the $12,000-mark on June 26 for the first time since January 2018.
The cryptocurrency has risen about 228 percent, on a year-to-date basis to $12,619 on June 26 compared to $3843.52 on January 1. However, it is still far below its all-time high of $20,000, it reached at the end of 2017.
According to analysts, the sudden surge in price is due to a renewed interest in virtual coins after social media giant Facebook launched its own digital unit Libra.
In its study, leading crypto trading platform Binance said Facebook’s Libra would have a massive impact on global economies.
Bitcoin bull Tom Lee, who said Facebook had brought cryptocurrencies to the mainstream, told CNBC that Bitcoin was moving “deep into a bull market”.
According to him, Bitcoin is on its way to break its previous all-time-high and reach a much higher point of about $40,000 in 2019.
According to some crypto-bulls, Bitcoin is all set to skyrocket and reach as high as $50,000.
An unidentified buyer bought 30 call options at New York-based crypto marketplace, LedgerX, on May 23. The trader spent $4,500 on the options, to be expired in June 2020, which would allow him/her to buy Bitcoin at $50,000, according to The Wall Street Journal.
This means the trader is going to lose the $4,500 if Bitcoin does not reach $50,000. However, if it does reach that magic number, the trader will earn significant profits.
In December 2017 when Bitcoin was at an all-time high, Ari Paul bought options worth $1 million with a strike price of $50,000. However, things did not go as expected even though Paul claimed to have made modest profits.
Bitcoin, as well as other cryptocurrencies, is extremely volatile. It crossed $20,000 and reached its all-time high in December 2017. In just one year, it reached as low as $3,000 in December 2018.
“I certainly would caution nonprofessionals against trading options,” Paul told the WSJ.
Meanwhile, in India, the draft of Banning of Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2019 proposes a 10-year jail term for those who “mine, generate, hold, sell, transfer, dispose, issue or deal in cryptocurrencies directly or indirectly.”
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