Bitcoin nears $9,000 as it breaks through its highest level this year
Bitcoin surged on Monday, hitting a more-than-one-year high and nearing the $9,000 mark.
The price of the digital coin hit an intraday high of $8,937.25, according to Coindesk’s Bitcoin Price Index, which tracks the price of the cryptocurrency across several exchanges. That was the highest level since an intraday high on May 11, 2018.
At around 9:50 a.m. HK/SIN on Monday, bitcoin was up over 9% in 24 hours and was trading around $8,788.87.
The cryptocurrency has seen a renewal of interest in the past few weeks and its price is up over 140% so far this year.
There has been an increase in major companies experimenting or bringing out cryptocurrency-related products. For example, Taiwanese phone maker HTC released a phone focused on helping people store their digital coins, while Facebook is reportedly working on its own cryptocurrency.
Fidelity, meanwhile, launched a new company to help institutional investors trade bitcoin.
Other cryptocurrencies were also higher on Monday. Ethereum, the second largest digital coin by value, was up over 7% from the day before at around 9:50 a.m. HK/SIN.
Bitcoin is still well off its all-time high of over $19,000 in late 2017 when a buying frenzy from retail investors sent cryptocurrency prices soaring.
Credit: CNBC
