SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Bitcoin retreated from a record high on Monday and other cryptocurrencies fell, with investors profiting from a record-breaking recovery that pushed bitcoin close to $ 50,000.
Bitcoin fell 5.6%, to $ 45,914 in the Asian trading session, after recording a record peak of $ 49,714.66 on Sunday, while rival crypto ethereum fell more than 8%.
Once on the periphery of finance, bitcoin is rapidly gaining legitimacy as an asset class and has jumped 20% in the week since electric car maker Tesla Inc announced it had $ 1.5 billion in bitcoin and would accept the currency as payment.
It is an increase of more than 60% in the year to date and has gained more than 1,100% since reaching the lowest drop in a year last March.
“There is this unadulterated wave of big players (buying) that has continued to push the price up,” said Chris Weston, head of research at brokerage Pepperstone in Melbourne. “We may be seeing one or two large funds just being withdrawn,” he said.
“The big question is: OK, you want to buy the setback, but how big is the setback we’re talking about?”
In addition to Tesla’s investment, Bank of NY Mellon said last week it formed a new unit to help customers own and trade digital assets.
Bloomberg reported on Saturday that Morgan Stanley’s investment arm is evaluating a bet on bitcoin.
Reporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Kim Coghill and Sam Holmes