Bitcoin reaches another high of $63,000 ahead of planned Coinbase IPO for Wednesday

• Crypto analysts project the currency to hit $80,000 by Q2 as Bloomberg says coin could reach $400,000 by 2022

Charles Abuede

Ahead of the scheduled initial public offering of Coinbase, Bitcoin which is the most valued and traded cryptocurrency has recorded a new high of $63,158 per Bitcoin with the digital currency lurching higher in what analysts have asserted that there is no telling on how high it could reach by the end of the day.

Over the years, digital currency has received some optimistic predictions with the proclamations of some experts that the coin could hit half a million as well as the claims by Bloomberg that the digital money would reach $400,000 by the year 2022, which has been taken with a grain of salt while others remain indifferent of the continued lurch in the currency. With the continued rally of the virtual currency which has seen a breakneck growth of 12-month’s gains rose to over 800 per cent.

The sudden rise has been attributed to several factors such as the recent jump in U.S consumer price data to 2.6 per cent year on year in March 2021, the scheduled IPO of Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, a recent move by India and other emerging markets economies to place a ban on Bitcoin as well as other virtual currency trading which resulted in an unmovable obstacle made out of local crypto enthusiasts.

Accordingly, Peter Tchir, a strategist at Academy Securities, said on Tuesday, that the escalating tension between Russia and Ukraine may also be playing a role in the recently historic rally in the currency.

“In countries like Russia, where the wealth is heavily concentrated, the ‘insiders’ may well know what is happening ahead of time and are positioning their portfolios accordingly (we’ve seen evidence of that with China, Turkey and Venezuela, in the past,),” he said.

Also, Jim Cramer, a CNBC news commentator, tweeted on Tuesday morning that the Bitcoin rally may impact the Coinbase pricing.

“As Bitcoin flies through $62,000 I am beginning to fear that COIN will come to a high. We have to stay close to this,” he stated.

However, with the positive prospects seen by many enthusiasts of the currency, some crypto analysts have predicted that the Bitcoin price could rise to $80,000 by the end of the second quarter and it indeed appears that so far, the digital currency is heading towards the goal of surpassing that benchmark.