News report: The rise of "Bitcoin" is it evidence of sobriety or raving of speculation?
From US money market giants to Tesla, Bitcoin is attracting more buyers who have been lured by its spectacular growth, despite the concerns of many market regulators.
On Wall Street, where cryptocurrency enthusiasts were still a marginal category in 2017 during the recent price hike, those taking it are doubling as the world's leading asset management company, Blackrock or New York Mellon, announced their intention to invest in the sector.
There is no doubt that Bitcoin's performance lures heavy investors in New York. With the digital currency reaching more than $ 51,000 on Thursday, it will have reached 5 times what it was a year ago, while the value of all Bitcoin currencies created since its launch in 2008 is about $ 1,000 billion.
Professionals in this sector, such as Eric Demuth, head of the Bitpanda platform for selling European cryptocurrencies, believe that the issue has been settled and that Bitcoin has become a "new digital gold" accepted by investors wishing to diversify their assets and protect themselves from inflation.
"Soon, we will find Bitcoins in central bank reserves," he asserts.
"It's a very volatile asset and it's risky, but at the same time, it's been ten years since we said bitcoin would collapse and it's still there," says researcher Matteo Bovar of the College of Economics in Toulouse.
He added that the "Bitcoin" virtual currency is moving towards more regulated markets and its volatility decreases even if its volatility remains ten times higher than the stock market.
European warned
And right now, monetary institution officials are wary of this virtual currency created by unknown people and managed through a decentralized network, as European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde confirmed in early February that Bitcoin is not a currency and that it is a highly speculative asset.
There is a clear marketing aspect, said Alexandre Paradeh, market analyst at IG France. Some companies “include small amounts of Bitcoin in their cash flow to show that they are in line with technology news,” noting that speculative fever has not yet dominated Europe.
The President of Bitbanda said with regret that the same thing is always repeated, Europe is two years behind the United States in adopting new technologies and believed that the old continent can catch up in the coming years.
Analysts at BitTree, a cryptocurrency company, said that Europe's share of Bitcoin accounts for only 10% of investment fund purchases.
Founder Charlie Morris said the main reason for this was the severe restrictions imposed by the regulations, and added that he did not expect to see European companies follow the example of Tesla, the electric vehicle manufacturer led by Elon Musk. Musk, the world's wealthiest and enthusiastic supporter of cryptocurrencies, announced an investment of $ 1.5 billion in Bitcoin.
Digital giants like Google and Apple that have an abundance of money are investing heavily in the stock market, but Tesla has emerged by entering the volatile world of cryptocurrencies.
The market is on fire
Not all investors like Elon Musk's adventures. Since Tesla bought Bitcoin, the group's stock has fallen sharply. This has cost them more than 60 billion in market capitalization, said an investor in the cryptocurrency market.
And when prices began to rise at the end of 2020, supporters of cryptocurrencies were happy to see that those supporting the rise were professional investors, not individuals, as in 2017 when prices rose before their collapse in early 2018, so many actors are waiting for a sharp price correction, without giving up with That's about cryptocurrencies.
“As during the internet bubble, many new products linked to Bitcoin will stop, but other products that will be better capitalized and more solid will remain,” said Alexandre Paradeh.
