Bitcoin has, once again, smashed a record.
The cryptocurrency hit a new all-time high yesterday, rising to about $1,343, while its younger cousin ether–the currency traded on Ethereum–also logged a new record when prices rocketed over $60.
The price hikes come amidst a rising period of confidence and excitement for cryptocurrency enthusiasts, emboldened due to recent news such as the SEC’s decision to revisit the Winklevoss ETF that was rejected earlier in the year.
“If the average investor becomes able to invest in bitcoin, the money that will come in–it’s such a big opportunity,” Simon Yu, CEO of CakeCodes Inc., told Bank Innovation. “Most people who believe in bitcoin and blockchain believe in the long-term disruption that it will have.”
Yu’s company publishes the app Bitmaker, which allows users to collect free bitcoins without going through all of the hassle of mining. The app, presently available on Android devices, but set to launch on iOS later in the year, currently has about 250,000 monthly active users.
According to Yu, the current rise of both bitcoin and ether speak to a rising confidence in cryptocurrency made all the more impressive considering the industry is less than 10 years old (if one starts the timeline from the publication of Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper).
“It’s a very exciting space, people really believe we are in this stage similar to the Internet in the nineties, when people thought the Internet was only going to be used for email,” Yu said.
Of course, this level of confidence in bitcoin (and increasingly, in blockchain) is not new among crypto enthusiasts. However, just because traditional investors may soon have the opportunity to invest in bitcoin doesn’t mean they’ll actually invest. For all its disruptive potential, bitcoin’s notorious volatility is still a factor that has to be considered when investing; imagine if the dollar went up and down this quickly, we’d all have whiplash, not to mention anxiety. Ether, while steadier, has burned the financial industry before.
“For traditional investors, there is a risk mitigation [factor],” Yu explained. “There are plenty of financial tools available to make sure that bitcoin is not as volatile.”
Whether traditional investors will want to go through the effort is unclear; for now, the cryptocurrency world is celebrating. Yu, for instance, recommends that everyone invest at least $50 or a $100 in bitcoin.
Right now, $100 dollars would translate to approximately one-thirteenth of a bitcoin.