Bitcoin passes US$60,000 for first time, as people collect US stimulus cheques
- Bitcoin has tripled in value over the last three months, bolstered by increasing backing from corporate heavyweights
- Tesla has invested US$1.5 billion in the currency, while Twitter’s Jack Dorsey and rapper Jay-Z want to create a fund to make bitcoin ‘the internet’s currency’
Bitcoin passed the US$60,000 mark for the first time on Saturday, with analysts saying the giant US stimulus package helped boost the world’s most popular virtual currency on its record-breaking run.
The cryptocurrency hit US$60,197 at 12.34 GMT and continued to hover around US$60,000, according to the website CoinMarketCap.
Bitcoin has tripled in value over the last three months – it was worth US$20,000 in December – bolstered by increasing backing from corporate heavyweights.
Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson said that in recent days, “bitcoin went up as investors looked to the imminent arrival of stimulus cheques”.
Individuals in the US earning up to US$75,000 will receive a cheque for US$1,400 from this weekend, after President Joe Biden signed his US$1.9 trillion Covid-19 rescue plan into law this week.
Bitcoin has been on a meteoric rise since March last year, when it stood at US$5,000, spurred by online payments giant PayPal saying it would allow account holders to use cryptocurrency.