Bitcoin rose 4.4% on Monday to its highest level in 10 months, as some industry supporters highlight the asset as a potential “safe haven”, like gold, as recession fears return to the fore and after fears rose last month about potential instability in the banking system .
The largest cryptocurrency traded as high as $29,314 on Monday, the highest level since June 2020, according to CoinDesk data. Bitcoin BTCUSD is still down over 57% from a November 2021 all-time high.
“With…
Bitcoin rose 4.4% on Monday to its highest level in 10 months, as some industry supporters highlight the asset as a potential “safe haven”, like gold, as recession fears return to the fore and after fears rose last month about potential instability in the banking system .
The largest cryptocurrency traded as high as $29,314 on Monday, the highest level since June 2020, according to CoinDesk data. Bitcoin
BTCUSD
is still down over 57% from a record high in November 2021.
“With the banking crisis, I think the leading function of Bitcoin has changed from speculative technology to security. Much more like gold,” said David Tawil, president and co-founder of ProChain Capital. Some investors may have come to view the asset as a haven from the banking crisis and a recession, rather than a speculative asset, Tawil said.
Still, bitcoin has often traded alongside other risky assets, such as stocks, in recent years.
“I also think there will be an influx of liquidity from Asia, especially Asian tech companies that had accounts with Silicon Valley Bank that are now looking for places to put their money,” according to Stefan Rust, founder of Truflation.
Monday’s rally may be driven in part by “the growing influence in the crypto market led by Hong Kong,” as US regulators step up oversight of the industry, according to Rachel Lin, co-founder and CEO of Synfutures.
Hong Kong Finance Minister Paul Chan said in a blog post on Sunday that while crypto markets have been highly volatile, the time is “right” to push the introduction of Web3, or the so-called third generation of the internet, in the region.
Bitcoin has been trying to break the $30,000 level, a psychological level, for three weeks, Rust noted.
Stocks are mostly lower Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA
up 0.2% and the S&P 500
SPX
flat. Nasdaq Composite
COMP
fell 0.1% on Monday.
