Bitcoin neared an all-time high on Monday after a record run for stocks and ahead of a listing by the largest US cryptocurrency exchange. The token rose as much as 2.6 per cent to $61,229, the highest in nearly a month but still short of the 13 March peak of $61,742. Bitcoin is up almost ninefold in the past year, a return that towers above that of more familiar assets like equities or bullion.
Against the backdrop of Wall Street’s growing embrace of cryptocurrencies, the direct listing of digital-token exchange Coinbase Global Inc. is also stoking interest. Coinbase is due to go public on the Nasdaq on April 14, the first listing of its kind for a major cryptocurrency company and a test of investor appetite for other start-ups in the sector.
“Coinbase listing on the Nasdaq is as bullish a signal as possible at this current stage,” Antoni Trenchev, co-founder of crypto lender Nexo, said in an email Friday.
A growing list of companies are looking at or even investing in Bitcoin, drawn by client demand, price momentum and arguments that it can hedge risks such as faster inflation. Tesla Inc. earlier this year disclosed a $1.5 billion investment in Bitcoin and more recently started accepting it as payment for electric cars.
Elsewhere, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has said it’s close to offering investment vehicles for Bitcoin and other digital assets to private wealth clients. Morgan Stanley plans to give rich clients access to three funds that will enable crypto ownership. The deck of exchange-traded funds tracking the token is expanding. Paypal Inc. and Visa Inc. have begun using cryptocurrencies as part of the payments process.