The price of bitcoin jumped to a six-week high on Monday, and some investors attributed the rally to the liquidation of short positions and speculation that Amazon. com Inc. may be dabbling in digital currencies.
Bitcoin skyrocketed to $ 39,544.29, according to CoinDesk, reaching its highest level since mid-June. It is up 18% from its 5pm ET level on Friday, after a brief rise of more than 20% on Monday morning. Rival currency Ether jumped more than 14%.
Recent bullish comments from high-profile crypto advocates have helped prop up price gains. Last week, Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk said that he and his rocket company, SpaceX, had bitcoin, despite concerns about its environmental impact. Musk also said that Tesla would likely accept the cryptocurrency as payment again if the generation process, known as mining, becomes less reliant on fossil fuels.
“There has been a lack of good news in the cryptocurrency market in the last two months,” said Bobby Lee, founder and CEO of Ballet, a cryptocurrency hardware wallet. “Now they are starting to leak, so investors and speculators are taking this opportunity to build their positions and buy back bitcoins, causing the price to go up quite spectacularly.”
Bitcoin is still roughly 40% below its high of nearly $ 65,000 in mid-April. The following month, China’s renewed efforts to end bitcoin mining and trading contributed to sharp price declines.
Source: WSJ
