The Price of Bitcoin Reaches $18,000

For the first time in almost three years, the price of Bitcoin is approaching its all-time high. This Wednesday it exceeded $18,000, approaching the 19,783 on January 1, 2017.

According to the records of the CoinDesk portal, the virtual currency appreciated from 16,560 to 18,198 dollars in the last 24 hours. Its price has shot up 146% in year-on-year terms and 70% so far in the last four months of this year.

Speaking to CoinDesk Antoni Trenchev, co-founder and managing partner of cryptocurrency lending platform Nexo, said that "a few recent events have undoubtedly had an impact." Among them, the price of institutional investments by firms such as MicroStrategy and Square, on par with the boost given to bitcoin by its recent incorporation into the PayPal payment system.

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Other experts point to global events such as the coronavirus pandemic and negative interest rates in traditional markets, including Germany.

"Interest rates are the biggest factor in people's decision about where to deposit money," argued Ki Young Ju, CEO of analytics company CryptoQuante.