The meteoric rise in Bitcoin’s price shows no signs of slowing down and its latest record high quoted the asset above a 20-ounce gold bar.
In the past six hours, Bitcoin prices have reached $ 40,000 for a brief period, according to Tradingview.com. The movement added another 5% in the last 24 hours and the increase still shows no signs of cooling.
Industry watchers often call Bitcoin “digital gold” as it is a store of valuable assets, and this latest price spike has pushed prices higher than those of the standard 20-ounce gold bar.
At the time of writing, gold was trading at $ 1912 / ounce according to Goldprice.org, so a 20-ounce bar would cost $ 38,240. Bitcoin’s price, at the same time, was just over $ 39,000.
Now it takes more than an entire 20-ounce gold bar to buy a single #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/B8YsAgyRJL
– Documenting Bitcoin (@DocumentBitcoin) January 7, 2021
DigiByte Foundation secretary and vice president, Rudy Bouwman, while touting his own cryptocurrency said:
“Bitcoin will become like gold bars, just a store of value.”
This increase is slightly different from 2017, as it is being driven mainly by institutions that, unlike retail traders, tend to keep the asset for long-term investment instead of exchanging it for a short-term profit. This notion reinforces Bitcoin’s reserve of valuable properties, making it more comparable to gold than ever before.
In terms of performance, Bitcoin has risen 378% in the last 12 months, while gold has only managed to gain 21.6% in the same period.
In addition, Bitcoin is still reaching new highs, but gold prices dropped 7.6% from theirs, which was $ 2,070 / ounce on August 6, 2020.
The gold bug and perpetual Bitcoin destroyer, Peter Schiff, finally admitted that Bitcoin was actually taking off the demand for gold, as evidenced by these numbers.
“To the extent that Bitcoin is actually taking any demand for gold, this is making Fed governors extremely happy. The increase in the price of gold is what central banks fear most. Bitcoin is your best friend, which may explain why regulators are in no hurry to help burst the bubble. “
With the price of a single Bitcoin now higher than a gold bar, the question remains; how much more can you climb?