Bitcoin soars to all-time high after BNY Mellon announces crypto venture

[webfact]

Bitcoin soars to all-time high after BNY Mellon announces crypto venture

By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss

 

FILE PHOTO: Representations of virtual currency Bitcoin are placed on U.S. Dollar banknotes in this illustration taken May 26, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bitcoin on Thursday jumped to a fresh all-time high after BNY Mellon said it formed a new unit to help clients hold, transfer, and issue digital assets.

 

The new unit at BNY Mellon is expected to roll out the offerings later this year, the bank said.

 

Bitcoin hit a record high of $48,481.45 earlier on Thursday and was last up 6.9% at $47,932. The largest virtual currency in terms of market capitalization has gained about 66% so far this year and soared roughly 1,200% since mid-March 2020.

 

The BNY Mellon announcement came just days after Elon Musk's Tesla revealed it had bought $1.5 billion worth of the cryptocurrency and would soon accept it as a form of payment for its cars.

 

After long being shunned by traditional financial firms, bitcoin has finally entered the mainstream.

 

Last month, BlackRock Inc, the world's largest asset manager, added bitcoin as an eligible investment to two funds, and on Wednesday, credit card giant Mastercard Inc said it was planning to offer support for some cryptocurrencies on its network this year.

 

But Luca Paolini, chief strategist at Pictet Asset Management, said corporations were hedging themselves against the possibility that bitcoin succeeds.

 

"And so companies probably do what some retail investors are doing, to say well this bitcoin will probably fail, but there is still a low chance that it may not fail. And so, they want to be part of it," he told the Reuters Global Markets Forum.

 

Rival cryptocurrency ethereum was 3% higher at $1,793.88 after hitting a record high of $1,839 on Wednesday, days after its futures began trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

 

Some market participants though continued to advise caution.

 

"Investors must remember that bitcoin is not a simple, get-rich-scheme. In reality, it has been, and will continue to be, susceptible to downward price swings – especially when the short-term winners look to withdraw their earnings," said Gavin Smith, chief executive officer of cryptocurrency consortium, Panxora Group.

 

"While another upwards price run is on the horizon, investors should remain cautious and look to implement a steady risk management strategy," he added.

 

(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Additionl reporting by Tom Wilson in London and Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-02-12

 

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[donnacha]

Even as a Bitcoin enthusiast, this constant flow of "Highest Price Ever" stories is boring.

At least wait until it breaks 100k in a month or two, that will be notable and worth celebrating.

 

[Dagfinnur Traustason]

It will go to a maximum of 65-70k in this ATH, pumped up by economically strong persons and companies, that finaly jumped on the train. Not saying it will never reach 100k, but not this year. After the maximum of 70k i a few days/weeks/month, it will slide down again. Nobody knows to what realistic level.

[Oldie]

BitCOIN. It is not even a coin. It is nothing. Perhaps one of the most stupid speculations ever. As long as one can make money - great. I remember when I was younger they speculated with plastic phone cards. I never understood these people. Perhaps just a different form of a gigantic pyramid scheme? 

[Dazinoz]

1 hour ago, Oldie said:

Perhaps one of the most stupid speculations ever.

I guess thats why Elon Musk just bought $1.5BILLION worth.

[Dazinoz]

1 hour ago, Dagfinnur Traustason said:

It will go to a maximum of 65-70k in this ATH, pumped up by economically strong persons and companies, that finaly jumped on the train. Not saying it will never reach 100k, but not this year. After the maximum of 70k i a few days/weeks/month, it will slide down again. Nobody knows to what realistic level.

Michael Saylor the CEO of Microstratergy held a meting last week with big company CEOs pushing BTC. One of the things he was pushing was if BTC hit $200k then its volatility would drop significantly. A few days later Elon Mush bought $1.5 billion worth.

 

So I am hoping you are wrong but who knows? Its lot crystal ball stuff with some analysis thrown in.

[Oldie]

21 minutes ago, Dazinoz said:

I guess thats why Elon Musk just bought $1.5BILLION worth.

Elon Musk was almost bankrupt several times. If for instance the Google founders wouldn't have helped him financially there might have been a very different Elon Musk story. I will watch him... 

[Dagfinnur Traustason]

1 hour ago, Dazinoz said:

Michael Saylor the CEO of Microstratergy held a meting last week with big company CEOs pushing BTC. One of the things he was pushing was if BTC hit $200k then its volatility would drop significantly. A few days later Elon Mush bought $1.5 billion worth.

 

So I am hoping you are wrong but who knows? Its lot crystal ball stuff with some analysis thrown in.

Of course I can be wrong. Still have BTC left, so naturally I wish it to reach 200k too. ????

However, when I look back at the graph and historical developments of most cryptos, they tend to have a sharp rise, followed by a longer period of a much lower value. That´s why I am a believer of that thesis. Not saying it will not reach 100k or 200k. I will, in  the future.Just that I base my belief on the historical movements. They are telling me the outcome that I am posting here.

Another way of looking at the cirus, is also to see the opportunities and possible percentual gains in the future. If BTC reaches 200k, that will still not be more than approx 300% raise in possible earnings. Not like it was before, when you could buy it for 5 dollar or even a couple of cents. Today there are many more promising cryptos that might have the possible raise of 1 000 to 10 000%.

That´s why I sold off most of my holdings in BTC and spreading the investments on a few ones I see as promising. All the babbling about Ripple (XRP), that goes on here, that it should mean a great risk because of their pending case, is just a lot of rubbish. That information comes from the mouths of newbies without any knowledge of the crypto world. It´s just a phase the coin is going through. The coin is an entity, that has been mishandled by some individuals. They will face the music for that. The value and trust for the coin will go down for a short period of time. Let´s say 3-4 months. After that it will be re-organized and start to grow again.

[fdsa]

2 hours ago, Dagfinnur Traustason said:

All the babbling about Ripple (XRP), that goes on here, that it should mean a great risk because of their pending case, is just a lot of rubbish.

XRP has a great risk because of a different reason - it is controlled by the single entity, not by the worldwide distributed network as altcoins.

BTC share the same risk too btw, as it is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

[Dagfinnur Traustason]

6 minutes ago, fdsa said:

XRP has a great risk because of a different reason - it is controlled by the single entity, not by the worldwide distributed network as altcoins.

BTC share the same risk too btw, as it is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

Yes, and it´s the risk by not being connected to a network, that creates opportunity. To say that BTC is controlled by China is a stretch, but sure there are parts of power there.

However, if you wish to join the altcoins collectors guild, then you will place yourself at the same level as paper money. Good Luck!

[ukrules]

A bank so old it was founded by Alexander Hamilton just announced that it's going to work with Bitcoin.

 

This bank is huge and it serves the wealthiest of them all.

 

[roquefort]

7 hours ago, Oldie said:

BitCOIN. It is not even a coin. It is nothing. Perhaps one of the most stupid speculations ever. As long as one can make money - great. I remember when I was younger they speculated with plastic phone cards. I never understood these people. Perhaps just a different form of a gigantic pyramid scheme? 

What do you think the coin in your pocket is? It is nothing, a worthless piece of metal. It only has value because everyone agrees it does. It's the same with bitcoin.

Value comes from trust. Trust that you can buy something else with it, transfer it to someone else or exchange it for another currency.

[Oldie]

1 hour ago, roquefort said:

What do you think the coin in your pocket is? It is nothing, a worthless piece of metal. It only has value because everyone agrees it does. It's the same with bitcoin.

Value comes from trust. Trust that you can buy something else with it, transfer it to someone else or exchange it for another currency.

You are right. But you have to see the huge amounts that are in "real" currencies. Imagine the value of the USD would fluctuate like the value of the bitcion. The world economy would end in a disaster. By the way - have you ever tried to pay a "personal entertainer" with bitcoins? I guess it might not have worked. A clear sign how useless bitcoins can be. 

[Dazinoz]

42 minutes ago, Oldie said:

have you ever tried to pay a "personal entertainer" with bitcoins

Maybe you should try buttcoin.

[roquefort]

1 hour ago, Oldie said:

You are right. But you have to see the huge amounts that are in "real" currencies. Imagine the value of the USD would fluctuate like the value of the bitcion. The world economy would end in a disaster. By the way - have you ever tried to pay a "personal entertainer" with bitcoins? I guess it might not have worked. A clear sign how useless bitcoins can be. 

I like the idea, maybe I'll try it next time ????

For now you're right, the cryptos are too volatile and not widely accepted. But that's changing very quickly and it's likely they'll become widely used and therefore more stable. Some big banks have announced this week they'll start allowing their customers to use them.

[ThailandRyan]

5 hours ago, fdsa said:

XRP has a great risk because of a different reason - it is controlled by the single entity, not by the worldwide distributed network as altcoins.

BTC share the same risk too btw, as it is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

Still waiting for my SPARK Airdrop of 16000 coins from when I had my XRP at snapshot time.  Converted all of my XRP over to Ethereum back in December and am just sitting back waiting to see where this goes.  The airdrop token may be worthless or it may take off, who knows.

 

However, many of the exchanges have at least one cryptocurrency platform that is the equivalent of investing in say the NASDAQ or S&P 500 and one of them is Yearn.finance (YFI) which is an Ethereum token that governs the Yearn.finance platform. The platform is a yield optimizer that moves funds around the decentralized finance (“defi”) ecosystem in an effort to generate a high return.  Very similar to what BNY Melon is now promoting.

[Oldie]

1 hour ago, roquefort said:

I like the idea, maybe I'll try it next time ????

For now you're right, the cryptos are too volatile and not widely accepted. But that's changing very quickly and it's likely they'll become widely used and therefore more stable. Some big banks have announced this week they'll start allowing their customers to use them.

 

I think governments will block the usage of bitcoins and other such currencies one day. Under "money laundering" or whatever real reason... They try to control all financial transactions. They even removed the 500 Euro note and have in some countries restrictions how much you can pay in cash. I could imagine that they don't like bitcoins. They don't like cash also. Cash makes it hard for them to control and know everything. And bitcoins are even worse because the people can move big amounts. 

[ThailandRyan]

2 minutes ago, Oldie said:

 

I think governments will block the usage of bitcoins and other such currencies one day. Under "money laundering" or whatever real reason... They try to control all financial transactions. They even removed the 500 Euro note and have in some countries restrictions how much you can pay in cash. I could imagine that they don't like bitcoins. They don't like cash also. Cash makes it hard for them to control and know everything. And bitcoins are even worse because the people can move big amounts. 

That is the fear that some in government believe only money laundering, drug proceeds and illegal enterpeises use Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.  They also believe terrorists use it as well to finance objectives. Anything is possible, but then they have not banned the use of hawaladas completely and or loan sharks.

[ThailandRyan]

More interesting news.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/02/12/cryptocurrency-dwindling-cash-use-is-pushing-central-banks.html