A woman looks at the electronic board of a cryptocurrency exchange in Seoul, showing the price of Bitcoin soaring, during a trading session Feb. 15. (Yonhap)
Bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, surpassed the 65 million won ($57,200) level once again Thursday, continuing a rally that started earlier this week.
The digital coin, which has been on an upward trend since March 7, hit 65.15 million won Thursday morning, according to crypto exchange operator Upbit. It is the cryptocurrency’s second-highest level, after the historic high of 65.98 million won recorded Feb. 20.
On Bithumb, a local crypto trading platform, one bitcoin was traded at 65.33 million won earlier in the morning, slightly below the all-time high of 65.58 million won.
Bitcoin prices vary from exchange to exchange because of differences in trading volume, among other reasons.
One bitcoin shot up to 65.26 million won on Coinbase, the world’s largest crypto coin trading platform, Thursday.
The recent Bitcoin rally is thought to be linked to the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill passed recently by the Senate and House of Representatives in the US, as demand for crypto assets is expected to rise with high liquidity in the financial market.
Some entrepreneurs, such as Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, a crypto asset advocate, have expressed support for digital coins recently, driving up the value of cryptocurrencies.
The Twitter CEO has announced his plan to sell his very first tweet -- posted March 21, 2006 -- in the form of a non-fungible token, which is a type of cryptographic token.
Some entrepreneurs and politicians, on the other hand, have maintained negative views of digital assets.
In a media interview Feb. 22, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Bitcoin was “an extremely inefficient way of conducting transactions, and the amount of energy that is consumed in processing those transactions is staggering.”
Talking about the negative impact on the environment of mining Bitcoin, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said in an interview with the New York Times that “Bitcoin uses more electricity per transaction than any other method known to mankind.”
By Kim Young-won (
wone0102@heraldcorp.com)