Bengaluru, NFAPost: The price of bitcoin hit record highs and touched $28,500, setting it on track for its longest monthly winning streak in more than a year.
The cryptocurrency has been rising in recent months, with the run of returns over October, November and December so far being its longest stretch since the middle of 2019.
The price has fallen by 4 per cent and currently stands at $26,596 per coin, but this is still roughly $10,000 more a coin than a month ago and year lows in March which saw it dip below the $4,000 mark. Someone who bought £1,000 worth of the cryptocurrency at the start of 2020 would have seen that turn into £3,750, a return of 275 per cent in less than a year.
The surge has largely taken place during the second half of 2020, having initially seen the price fall to as low as $3,800 a coin in mid-March when investors were dumping assets of all kinds in a mass sell-off in response to the coronavirus.
But now, many see the cryptocurrency as a hedge against dollar weakness and the risk of faster inflation. Even asset managers and banks are turning to bitcoin to diversify their holdings, who until fairly recently turned their noses up at it.
