Bitcoin hits US$32K as the surge continues into 2021

At the start of 2020 Bitcoin was at around US$7200 but it closed the year off at an astounding US$30000. Bitcoin has now breached the US$32K mark and the reasons are in stark contrast to its last boom in 2017.

Bitcoin’s surge in 2017 was, in large part, due to a lot of people buying the crypto and making it something of a valuable commodity. This recent rise is mainly due to the players on Wall Street seeing the crypto as a valuable asset to have on their portfolio.

In a report by Yahoo Finance, Wall Street pumped in US$5.75 billion into digital asset funds in 2020. That is a 660% increase from the amount that they collectively put in 2019.

Other contributing factors have been companies like PayPal who, in October, announced that it will be allowing Bitcoin trading on the platform (including Venmo). This was important because a payments facility used by millions of people all over the world had given Bitcoin it’s blessing.

As PayPal’s share price went up so did Bitcoin’s value.

VISA has also been a big factor in the Bitcoin boom that has continued into the early days of this year. The company has approved a number of VISA embossed Bitcoin debit and credit rewards cards. In the same report by Yahoo Finance, cards are only just the beginning. VISA will be working with 25 digital currency companies on a number of bitcoin-related products and services.

VISA and PayPal will surely have prompted other players in the payments and financial space to accommodate Bitcoin and other cryptos. This could possibly mean that we could see Bitcoin reach new heights in 2021.