Bitcoin touches new record high of $63,000, Ether, Dogecoin cryptocurrencies too catch up

Bitcoin, the world’s first and the biggest cryptocurrency, touched a new record high of $63,000 on Tuesday. This comes at a time when the investors awaited the highly anticipated stock market debut of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.

The price of bitcoin climbed as high as $63,729.5 on Tuesday, according to data from Coin Metrics. It last traded just under $63,000. Ether, the second-most valuable digital coin after bitcoin, also set a fresh record, climbing to $2,317, according to a CNBC report.

Bitcoin climbed further by 5 percent during trading the same day. In the last six months, Bitcoin has registered significant growth and its value has risen by nearly 450 percent.

In April 2020, the cryptocurrency was trading at a meagre $7,000 it had a rollercoaster ride throughout the last year. In December 2020, the Bitcoin prices stood at $20,000, but only a month into the new year, the prices nearly doubled to $40,000 in January and $50,000 in the following month.

The price of Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency originally designed as a meme, also registered a 25 percent spike, taking its value to nearly 10 cents per coin.

Not long ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk had taken the world of cryptocurrency by storm after he announced on Twitter that people could now buy a Tesla using Bitcoin. This came roughly two months after Tesla invested a staggering $1.5 billion in bitcoin.

And now with Coinbase listing itself on Nasdaq, cryptocurrency enthusiasts see it as just another step towards its growing acceptance among investors and financial institutions as a mode of payment.

Despite their growing acceptance and enthusiasm surrounding them, their volatility and vulnerability remain among the big concerns.

Meanwhile, Jesse Powell, the CEO of Bitcoin exchange ‘Kraken’, has speculated that governments around the world may crackdown on the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This comes nearly a month after Janet Yellen, the United States Treasury Secretary, expressed concerns that cryptocurrency may also be used for “illicit finance”.