Bitcoin hits $10,000, as cheap money floods financial market

Bitcoin, the world’s largest digital coin, briefly surged above the $10,000 mark, as demand for it gained momentum.

It climbed as high as 2.7% to a high of $10,070 yesterday, touching the $10,000 mark for the first time since Feb 24, 2020. However, as at 7.35am today, bitcoin was trading at $9,807, with its market capitalization stands at about $181.9 billion.

The digital coin market is worth about $269.9 billion as of Saturday morning, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

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“Bitcoin traders are sentiment-driven at its peaks and valleys, and the post-halving hangover is part of the normal price ebbs and flows on top of Bitcoin’s fundamental value,” said Jehan Chu, managing partner with blockchain investment and advisory firm Kenetic Capital, to Bloomberg.

Bitcoin is not issued by centralized sovereignty like government-issued currencies are. That is why it is often classified as a “decentralized” digital coin. Instead, it is created by code and designed by a technology known as the blockchain.

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In addition, there are only 21 million bitcoins that can ever be produced, of which about 18.5 million have already been mined. This shows that bitcoin cannot be created arbitrarily, thus maintaining its high value, unlike most central banks around the world that keep printing money to stimulate the global economy.