Top cryptocurrency Bitcoin, has risen to an 18 month high today Wednesday the 26th of June 2019.
Bitcoin which is the world’s biggest cryptocurrency has continued to increase in value, since April 2019.
Its trading closed today at $13,000 (1.3 million Kenyan Shillings).
While the cryptocurrency is now up by 240 percent since the start of the year (2019), it still remains below its all time high of nearly $20,000 (2 million Kenyan Shillings).
Observers say the increase is as a result of nervous traders looking for safety in alternative investments, coupled with the expectations that Facebook’s Libra could turn cryptocurrencies mainstream.
Investors have flooded back into digital currencies, with Facebook announcing that it would offer its own cryptocurrency; the Libra coin, by end of June 2020.
Facebook’s announcement this month has revived interest in coins.
The Chief Market Strategist at CMC Markets said, “It obviously does appear to be benefiting from some sort of flows that gold is benefiting, too,”.
Micheal added that, “You have got all this stuff about Libra going on, which is renewing interest in bitcoin. Crypto is back in vogue.”
With major central banks also keeping interest rates near all-time lows, investors have been looking for ways to diversify their portfolios, including through cryptocurrencies, analysts say.
Bitcoin CME futures volumes have gone up in the past few days as investors keep looking for ways to gain access to the coin via the derivatives market.
Bitcoin last traded at $12,430 (1.24 million Kenyan Shillings) on the Bitstamp exchange after reaching a high of $12,935 (1.29 million Kenyan Shillings) earlier in the Asian session.
The cryptocurrency has sky rocketed by 150 percent since early May 2019, along with big increases in other smaller digital currencies such as Ethereum’s Ether and Ripple’s XRP.
