The flagship crypto just hit a three year high, by breaking above $19,000

What you should know: At the time of writing this report, Bitcoin traded at $19,046.17 USD with a daily trading volume of $51,548,246,565 USD. Bitcoin is up 2.82% in the last 24 hours.

It currently ranks at 1, with a market cap of $353,357,808,164 USD. It has a circulating supply of 18,552,700 BTC coins and a max. supply of 21,000,000 BTC coins.

Bitcoin is less than 4% away from the previous all time

$BTC less than 4% away from the previous ATH 📈#Bitcoin

Chart: https://t.co/DfOsu90BvD pic.twitter.com/RLJzMcp0bQ

— glassnode (@glassnode) November 24, 2020

As stakeholders, players, and crypto wannabes ponder if increasing their stakes on Bitcoin, the world’s most popular crypto seems ideal now, despite the fact that it’s trading near a record high, Nairametrics decided to weigh in on some key fundamentals showing Bitcoin looks like a bargain.

With prices exceeding $18,000 for the first time since 2017, BTC looks poised to break its previous all-time high. More investors are holding bitcoin for wealth preservation.

READ: Bitcoin on high demand, hits 2-year high, trading $17,000

A recent report from Glassnode, revealed plummeting Bitcoin exchange balances support the narrative that investors intend to hold their flagship crypto more than ever before, taking into consideration that with the prevailing demand in play, and limited supply of Bitcoin, the price would most definitely go north.

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With prices exceeding $18,000 for the first time since 2017, $BTC looks poised to break its previous all-time high.

Meanwhile, plummeting #Bitcoin exchange balances support the narrative that investors intend to hodl.

Read more in The Week On-Chain 👇https://t.co/fRTVsO1tqM pic.twitter.com/3VQWgsvmGO

— glassnode (@glassnode) November 23, 2020

Bitcoin liquidity continues its downward trajectory, buttressing that the macro bitcoin is becoming scarce for open sale.

It is also important to note that Bitcoin has a circulating supply of 19 million coins and a max supply of 21 million coins, meaning there are about 2million left to be mined.

READ: How Crypto can curb Nigeria’s high unemployment rate

Taking into account that about 4 million Bitcoins have been lost forever as a result of BTCs owners dying, and their next of kin not having access to such cryptos, it is fair to say there are only about 15million BTC presently in circulation to cater for over 7 billion people fighting to have a stake in Bitcoins, meaning that as BTC becomes scarce and more popular, it becomes a matter of time that the crypto asset valuation will hit the roof.

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Bottom line

It’s vital to consider the bias saying that as global financial regulators begin to implement their regulatory framework on cryptos, it could become a matter of months for global banks and multinationals to increase their buying pressures on BTC. Thereby, pushing the price beyond the reach of an average investor.

PayPal CEO, Mr. Schulman, recently hinted that the company would allow the usage of crypto funding for the 28 million merchants on its payments platform.

In a report credited to CNBC, the CEO of the payment juggernaut company elaborated further by saying, “Early next year, we’re going to allow cryptocurrencies to be a Funding Source for any transaction happening on all 28 million of our merchants and that will significantly bolster the utility of cryptocurrencies.”

READ: Why PayPal dropped 6% after posting its strongest earnings growth

The Chief Executive also disclosed that it was just a matter of time for digital currency to replace the old traditional forms of fiat currencies (paper money).

He said:

“As paper money slowly dissipates and disappears from how people are using transactions; Central banks, especially on the retail side, will need to replace paper money with forms of digital fiat currency.”

READ: Ripple emerges as fourth biggest fintech company globally, worth $10 billion

"As paper money slowly dissipates and disappears from how people are using transactions, central banks especially on the retail side will need to replace paper money with forms of digital fiat currency," says @PayPal CEO Dan Schulman. pic.twitter.com/pLuvc2RxPY

— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) November 23, 2020

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What this means

About a month ago, Nairametrics reported on PayPal Holdings Inc’s announcement that it would provide its users the opportunity to buy, hold, and sell cryptos directly from their PayPal accounts by early 2021.

It also hinted at a strategy to significantly boost its crypto’s utility capability, by making it readily available as a funding source for purchases with its 28 million clients globally.

READ: Unknown identity moves $117 million worth of Ethereum

In a press statement seen by Nairametrics, Dan Schulman, President and CEO, PayPal, gave key insights on why the global payment company was going crypto:

“The shift to digital forms of currencies is inevitable, bringing with it clear advantages in terms of financial inclusion and access, efficiency, speed, resilience of the payment system, and the ability for governments to disburse funds to citizens quickly.”