Bitcoin tops $50,000 in 2021. Is it an indicator of a bullish market and a run towards a record high? Find out right here!
Yes! Bitcoin (BTC) has finally broken the barrier of $50,000 again as the number one cryptocurrency continues on its bullish run.
Overcoming July's bearish market was a tough task, when the total crypto market capitalization dropped below $1.3 trillion. However, the increasing adoption in the space, along with the slow but steady market growth over the past month, has led to the crypto market capitalization standing over $2.2 trillion today.
The last time Bitcoin touched $50,000 was February 2021, and from that point until the initial days of May, a bullish run was witnessed as BTC broke all previous records to achieve an all-time high of $64,829.14.
As of Aug.23, 2021, Bitcoin stands at $50,226.19. The crypto market is currently in an upward trend and another bull run is on the cards.
Here are some reasons why the bullish trend might continue in the upcoming weeks.
Covering the Losses of the Crypto Holders
With the brutal dip of the crypto markets that started back in May 2021, a lot of crypto traders lost a major chunk of their crypto valuations. While many traders (especially new ones) with FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) liquidated their crypto assets, experienced investors and the whales of cryptocurrencies held on. After Bitcoin dropped below $30,000 in July 2021, it began to rise slowly and the bullish run started which has now taken BTC above $50,000.
Now, the traders who had their cryptocurrencies devalued due to the bearish market may continue to hold — this sentiment is affirmed by the Crypto Fear & Greed Index, which has increased from 70 to 79 in a matter of days.
The majority of the cryptocurrency market is up and running, thanks to the rise of Bitcoin above $50,000. Some market analysts are even speculating that BTC could break its all-time high, which currently stands at $64,829.14.
Acceptance by Major Institutions
You’ll be surprised to know how many financial institutions and major tech companies bought Bitcoin in the bearish market of February-May 2021. Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla, began to allow Bitcoin payments, despite halting this program momentarily due to environmental concerns.
PayPal is another tech giant that has allowed its users to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies through its platform — and as of today, this includes users in the UK. Morgan Stanley became one of the few banks to offer Bitcoin funds to its clients.
The biggest news of Bitcoin acceptance in 2021 came from Latin America — El Salvador became the first country to accept Bitcoin as a legal form of payment.
All of this happened, despite a (relatively) bearish Bitcoin market, which goes to show that the amount of investors behind Bitcoin is increasing, hoping for it to continue the current bull run and even cross $100,000 by the end of this year!
A New Form of Investment for Everyone
For many people, the world of cryptocurrencies was introduced to them for the first time during the current pandemic. Those who used to invest in real estate, tech startups and other forms of investments, are now seeing Bitcoin as a primary or secondary form of investment.
There are risks associated with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies — so much so that according to an estimate, 20% of all cryptocurrency has been lost or forgotten (total valuation of $140 billion in lost crypto!).
Despite this, the popularity of cryptocurrencies continues to rise as the top crypto exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, Gemini and others report a plethora of users signing up every day and trading cryptocurrencies.
Global Trends & Trust Issues
Current trends across the world are flowing with crypto. Businesses that showed severe trust issues with blockchain security are now starting to offer cryptocurrencies as an additional form of payment to consumers to buy their products and/or services.
The United States alone now has the highest number of Bitcoin ATMs in the world, with other countries like Italy, Slovenia, Brazil and Germany also following the trend of decentralized payments. All of these advancements in payments (and more) have come in 2021, which is now proving to be one of the best years for cryptocurrencies so far.
Ethereum’s Flippening Effect & Resistance From BTC
The term “flippening” is now being widely used in the cryptocurrency world — it refers to Ethereum (which stands at #2) overtaking Bitcoin as the #1 cryptocurrency. In many areas such as transactions volume and transactions count, ETH has already surpassed BTC, as per “The Flippening Index.”
Crypto experts and market analysts believe that the release of Ethereum 2.0 (ETH2) — a more scalable solution that aims to cut down on environmental costs, provide better transaction throughput and lower transaction costs as well — could help Ethereum to overtake Bitcoin in every aspect.
If Bitcoin starts to experience a bullish run, a strong resistance from Ethereum (after the launch of ETH2) may push BTC holders to HODL and maintain (or increase) BTC’s price to keep the edge over ETH.
If this does not happen and Ethereum finally becomes the king of the crypto market, the world of cryptocurrencies may still follow along with Bitcoin, which could keep its bullish run going to win the race against ETH.
Bitcoin Can Break Its All-Time High
The break over $50,000 also revived the predictions of $100,000 or more for Bitcoin, with the cryptocurrency market reaching $2.2 trillion in total valuation. Going by the current crypto market trends, it seems that Bitcoin may maintain its bullish run for the upcoming weeks and even break its ATH, especially if the whales continue to hold and major institutions keep transitioning towards BTC as a major form of their payments or investment.
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