The price of bitcoin surpassed $ 35,000 on Wednesday for the first time in its history, with the sharp rise in the price of the first cryptocurrency continuing into 2021 even though analysts are wary of a possible correction.
The price of bitcoin reached $ 35,841, up 6.3% on the session and breaking its record for the fifteenth time in less than two months.
Around 12:15 GMT (1:15 p.m. in Paris), bitcoin was trading at $ 34,940, according to prices compiled by the Bloomberg agency.
As is often the case with this very volatile market, analysts and specialized brokers interviewed did not identify any event to explain this new rise in prices.
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But for many market players, bitcoin, decentralized and not dependent on central banks, represents a form of digital gold.
Cryptocurrencies would therefore represent a way to guard against inflation that could be created by the ultra-accommodative monetary measures adopted by many central banks, led by the US Federal Reserve (Fed).
JPMorgan analysts estimate that bitcoin could reach $ 146,000, provided its volatility subsides to attract investors who currently prefer gold, which is more stable.
Those of Societe Generale, for their part, wonder if bitcoin will succeed in competing with gold, which has won the confidence of investors over its 3,000-year history.
Another medium-term hypothesis for cryptocurrencies, according to them: "if the recent rise is reversed in the coming months, we will probably talk about the pandemic bitcoin bubble".
In the wake of bitcoin, ethereum climbed nearly 6% to $ 1,150.
“Ethereum is the only other cryptocurrency worth mentioning” from a market perspective, said Naeem Aslam, analyst at Ava Trade.
Conversely, the ripple, another notable cryptocurrency, suffers from the conflict between its creators and the American market regulator, the SEC.
The ripple was trading at $ 0.22, a 66% plunge from levels reached in late November, when cryptocurrency prices started to soar.