The price of bitcoin has once again reached an all time high, with the cryptocurrency shooting above $57,000. This brings bitcoin to a five-month high, October being up 32 percent. Bitcoin has surpassed the value of many US tech companies. This recent surge could be due to many things such as being able to invest small amounts in bitcoin on Cashapp leading to wider availability. Countries in South America are starting to recognize bitcoin as a form of currency, which could have helped this surge. In the past weeks a mysterious investor, or group of investors, who placed an order to buy $1.6 billion worth of bitcoin, were a part of the surging price. It has been a good few months for bitcoin prices, but not everyone agrees bitcoin is worth anything.
Is Bitcoin Worthless?
The CEO of America’s largest bank, JPmorgan, has not changed his very vocal opinion of bitcoin. “I personally think that bitcoin is worthless,” Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan, said during the Institute of International Finance’s membership meeting. Dimon has been an outspoken critic of digital currency, calling it a “terrible store of value” which is “going nowhere” and “will not survive.” Dimon has also accused the cryptocurrency of being “a fraud” and “fool’s gold with no intrinsic value.” Dimon cautioned that “it’s going to be regulated, whether you like it or not.” None of the CEO’s opinions have stopped JPmorgan’s customers from having major interest in bitcoin, so the bank will go where the customers go, even if Dimon thinks they’re “stupid” for buying bitcoin. “Our clients are adults. They disagree. If they want to have access to buy or sell bitcoin, we can’t custody it—but we can give them legitimate, as clean as possible access,” Dimon said. A few on Wall Street share Dimon’s doubts of the cryptocurrency such as Berkshire Hathaway CEO, Warren Buffett, and vice chairman, Charlie Munger.
Bitcoin Supporters
The market value of bitcoin is so high many believe one more price surge could push it above silver. Analysts and investors, such as MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor, believe the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency will one day “flip” gold, due to its inbuilt scarcity. That would put the price of a single bitcoin at around half a million dollars. Miami Mayor Frances Suarez is a strong advocate for cryptocurrency. The Miami Mayor said Bitcoin is “definitely not worthless,” pointing out the cryptocurrency has “gone up significantly since we last talked about it.” The Miami Mayor went on to explain that bitcoin support has been seen around the world in places like South America, Central America and Africa. A crypto analyst and CEO of on-chain data firm CryptoQuant, speculates that traders may be investing in large numbers ahead of possible approval by the US Securities and Exchange Commission of a “futures-based bitcoin exchange-traded fund.” The White House is also considering an executive order to direct a range of federal agencies to study cryptos and recommend regulatory changes. This would prolong the surge in bitcoin’s value, especially since US approval of a bitcoin exchange system could convince other countries to follow.
Bitcoin has quickly gained popularity and worth since it was at $300 a bitcoin in 2013. Will the cryptocurrency snowball continue to roll and grow? With more and more countries backing bitcoin, could the cryptocurrency surpass the value of gold? Some say bitcoin is the best investment you could make right now. Since you can now invest small amounts through apps like Cashapp, it certainly is one of the easiest investments to make. Do you believe bitcoin will continue to grow and be a good investment?
Written by: Erinn Malloy
