- Title: Bitcoin's journey towards the mainstream
- Date: 16th February 2021
- Summary: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BITCOIN ATM MACHINE VARIOUS OF BITCOIN SIGN IRKUTSK, RUSSIA (FILE - AUGUST 31, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MINING FARM VARIOUS OF MINERS VARIOUS OF MINERS / INTERNET CABLE
- Embargoed: 2nd March 2021 07:14
- Keywords: Bitcoin Craig Wright Ethereum Kraken Litecoin Mt Gox Satoshi Nakamoto Silk roads bitcoin mining blockchain crypto cryptocurrency ripple
- Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
- City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
- Country: Various
- Topics: Currencies/Foreign Exchange Markets,Economic Events
- Reuters ID: LVA005DZX41AL
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Bitcoin, the world's first and most famous cryptocurrency, has shot to record highs as it gains legitimacy as an asset.
Much of those gains have been fuelled by interest from big U.S. institutions.
Bitcoin rose above $50,000 on Tuesday (February 16) to a new record high, building on a rally fuelled by signs that the world's biggest cryptocurrency is gaining acceptance amongst mainstream investors.
The cryptocurrency hit a new high of $50,602, and was last up 5% at $50,300. It has risen around 72% so far this year, with most of the gains coming after electric carmaker Tesla said it had bought $1.5 billion in bitcoin.
Here are some steps from big companies, large investors, banks and payment processors that have shifted bitcoin closer to the mainstream in recent months:
INVESTMENT
May 2020:
* Fund manager Paul Tudor Jones makes the case for bitcoin as a store of value.
Aug. 2020:
* Michael Saylor-led business software firm MicroStrategy announces purchase of 21,454 bitcoins for $250 million, the first of several investments in the cryptocurrency.
Nov. 2020:
* Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller and BlackRock fixed-income chief Rick Rieder make positive public comments about bitcoin as a gold alternative.
Jan. 2021:
* Investment bank JPMorgan Chase & Co says bitcoin could hit $146,000 if it becomes an established safe-haven.
* Weekly flows into crypto funds and products hit a record $1.3 billion and total investment scales a new peak of $34.4 billion, according to asset manager CoinShares.
Feb. 2021:
* Carmaker Tesla Inc announces it bought $1.5 billion in bitcoin and says it will soon accept the cryptocurrency as payment for its vehicles.
* Bitcoin owners now include 169-year-old insurer MassMutual, asset manager Galaxy Digital Holdings, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's payments firm Square, Canadian software company Snapper and coin miners Marathon and Argo.
ACCEPTANCE
July 2020:
* U.S. banking regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, says national banks and federal savings associations may provide cryptocurrency custody services
Oct. 2020:
* Payments processor PayPal allows customers to hold bitcoin in their digital wallets and use it to shop at the 26 million merchants on its network.
Feb. 2021:
* Mastercard discloses plans to support cryptocurrency payments across its network.
* BNY Mellon announces a new unit aimed at helping clients trade and own cryptocurrencies and other digital assets.
* Toronto-based asset manager Purpose Investments launches the world's first bitcoin exchange-traded fund.
* The parent company of Japan's biggest online brokerage, SBI, says it plans a crypto joint-venture with foreign financial firms.
ENERGY DRAIN
These mining computers require a vast amount of energy to run. A recent estimate by tech news site Motherboard put the energy cost of a single bitcoin transaction at 215 kilowatt-hours, assuming that there are around 300,000 bitcoin transactions per day. That's almost enough energy as the average American household consumes in a whole week.
BITS OF BITCOIN
Bitcoin's smallest unit is a Satoshi, named after the elusive creator of the cryptocurrency, Satoshi Nakamoto. One Satoshi is one hundred-millionth of a bitcoin, making it worth around $0.0001 at current exchange rates.
EXCHANGE HEISTS
More than 980,000 bitcoins have been stolen from exchanges, either by hackers or insiders. That's a total of more than $10 billion at current exchange rates. Few have been recovered.
MYSTERY CREATOR
Despite many attempts to find the creator of bitcoin, and a number of claims, we still do not know who Satoshi Nakamoto is, or was. Australian computer scientist and entrepreneur Craig Wright convinced some prominent members of the bitcoin community that he was Nakamoto in May 2016, but he then refused to provide the evidence that most of the community said was necessary. It is not clear whether Satoshi Nakamoto, assumed to be a pseudonym, was a name used by a group of developers or by one individual. Nor is it clear that Nakamoto is still alive - the late computer scientist Hal Finney's name is sometimes put forward. Developer Nick Szabo has denied claims that he is Nakamoto, as has tech entrepreneur Elon Musk more recently.
CRYPTO-RIVALS
Bitcoin is far from the only cryptocurrency. There are now well over 1,000 rivals, according to trade website Coinmarketcap. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
