Bitcoin bobs above US$11,000, up 187% year-to-date

Bitcoin surged to as high as US$11,251.21 on Monday, gaining 13% from Friday and reached the highest levels in 15 months.

As of 1.42pm Singapore time on Monday, the cryptocurrency was at US$10,840.75, IG data showed. Ethereum was priced at US$307.85 while Litecoin was at US$136.41.

Bitcoin up 187% year-to-date

Bitcoin prices have risen by 187% year-to-date. Market capitalization value for Bitcoin has more-than-doubled since January this year and is now valued at US$192.4 billion.

On January 1, it was trading at US$3,768.84 per coin, with a market capitalization value of US$65.8 billion, according to Coinmarketcap data.

Even so, the price is still 45.2% lower than the all-time-high price of US$19,783.06 recorded on December 17, 2017.

After the high seen at the tail end of 2017, cryptocurrencies steeply descended with prices plonking lower at the range of US$3,300 to US$4,100 per coin for several months from November 2018 till March 2019.

Since April this year, prices have been trending higher and crypto enthusiasts have been calling the resurgence of Bitcoin the end of the “Crypto Winter”.

This year, analysts are betting on crypto’s revival as more institutions reveal plans to build their own cryptocurrencies and/or are dabbling with blockchain technology.

Facebook’s Libra

Last week, social media giant Facebook announced plans to launch a digital payments system on the blockchain to allow its two billion users to buy things or send money with close to zero transaction fees.

The firm plans to launch its crypto in the first half of next year, it said in its whitepaper. On top of its cryptocurrency “Libra”, Facebook also said it will be releasing a cryptocurrency wallet called “Calibra” to accompany the digital coin.

Libra will be pegged to a basket of bank deposits and short-term government securities for a group of historically stable international currencies, including the United States (US) dollar and the Euro, and the volatility of the cryptocurrency will be parked to the fluctuations of its asset basket.

Although some regulators have already started to hawk around Facebook, citing regulatory concerns and are demanding for the development of Libra to be halted, investor sentiment on cryptocurrencies have improved with Facebook’s involvement in the space as some are hopeful for its potential mainstream adoption.