Anyone who invests in Bitcoin should have strong nerves.
After the all-time high in 2017, the cryptocurrency is climbing to new records.
But experts warn of risks.
Update from January 8th, 2021:
The rush for digital
currencies
like
Bitcoin
* continues.
(January 7) on Thursday suspended the oldest and best known
cryptocurrency
her
accompanied by strong fluctuations record hunt
continues: On the trading platform
Bitstamp
a Bitcoin cost for the first time
more than $ 40,000
, as the German Press Agency (dpa) reported in the evening.
In the high, around $ 40,330 was reached.
The price rose by over 12 percent in one day, according to the news agency.
The drastic rise in exchange rates is now also
affecting
other
digital currencies
and is causing the total market volume to exceed one trillion dollars for the first time.
In the
Corona year 2020
, hardly any investment on the stock exchanges developed as well as Bitcoin.
Last year, "digital gold", as Bitcoin is sometimes called, was one of the financial investments with the strongest price gains.
But critics also see the reports as reasons to be careful and warn of possible risks.
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Bitcoin soaring - but experts warn of risks
Article from December 4th, 2020
: Those who
invest
in
Bitcoin
should better have strong nerves.
After the all-time high in 2017, the
cryptocurrency has
climbed
to new records these days.
On Tuesday (December 1),
Bitcoin
reached
a record high of 19,918 dollars on the “Bitstamp” trading platform, as reported by the German Press Agency (dpa).
In the early afternoon, the rate fell to $ 18,100.
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The value of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin has increased significantly
The day before, the
cryptocurrency had
even
exceeded the
three-year-
old record high of the end of 2017
and
at times was quoted well above 19,800 US dollars
, as Tagesschau.de wrote (as of December 1, 2020).
At that time, a high of 19,666 dollars was marked on the trading platform "Bitstamp".
However, it should be noted that there are numerous platforms, so that the respective record levels differ slightly from each other.
All platforms, as reported Tageschau.de, have one thing in common, however, "that they have been showing a strong increase in Bitcoin since October".
Since the beginning of this month, when a Bitcoin was still available for just over $ 10,000, the price has almost doubled.
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Bitcoin proponents give reasons for hope for more stability
Bitcoin proponents
cite, as the dpa report on the subject says, solid reasons for their
hope for more stability
.
A few weeks ago, the large payment service PayPal granted a kind of accolade by announcing payment with Bitcoin and Co., as the news agency writes.
It is also stated that professional investors such as asset managers are increasingly interested in cryptocurrencies, which makes short-term price capers at least less likely.
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Consumer advocates see cryptocurrencies as a "high-risk speculative object"
However, as the dpa report also says, the latest price move should rather
confirm
the
warnings from consumer
advocates who see crypto currencies
primarily as a “high-risk speculative object”
.
"Crypto currencies are subject to strong price fluctuations," warned the report, according to the consumer center in Hamburg recently.
Their value depends solely on demand.
"If demand collapses, the currency also loses value."
According to the dpa, consumer advocates point out that
Bitcoins
do not
generate
any additional interest.
“Another disadvantage: the market for cryptocurrencies is not regulated by a financial regulator.
There are no state security systems. "
In the long-term valuation of Bitcoin, as the report also says, the fact that the
crypto currency is defined
as a finite resource and thus a basically scarce good
plays a decisive role
.
Compared to trading in other scarce assets such as gold
, Bitcoin is a comparatively small project, according to another aspect.
Against this background, according to the dpa report, experts such as the Frankfurt economist Philipp Sandner would point out that the Bitcoin market has relatively little liquidity - that is also a reason for the high volatility.
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Critic: cryptocurrency has been extremely volatile in the past
The
value of Bitcoin
, as the dpa report also says, is threatened by possible state regulation.
If economic areas such as the People's Republic of China, the United States or the European Union were to strictly regulate or even prohibit trading in Bitcoin, the exchange rate with the classic currencies could collapse accordingly.
In addition, Bitcoin is in competition with other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum or Ripple's XRP, which could also be "mined" with significantly less power consumption.
Cryptocurrencies
are not for the faint of heart, say experts.
The past actually shows that the courses are extremely prone to fluctuations
, writes Tagesschau.de.
An investment is therefore associated with
enormous risks
.
According to the news portal, critics therefore complain that the high price fluctuations stand in the way of use as a means of payment and investment.
They would see digital currencies as purely an object of speculation, not a real alternative when it comes to investing.
(ahu) * Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen central editorial network
Sources: dpa, Tagesschau.de
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