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When does the bubble burst?
The crypto currency Bitcoin is subject to strong fluctuations and is therefore highly speculative
Photo: ERIC GAILLARD / REUTERS
The price rally in the cryptocurrency market continues.
The oldest and most famous digital currency, Bitcoin, rose to a record high of $ 48,300 on Friday, targeting the round mark of $ 50,000.
Ethereum, the second largest Internet currency after Bitcoin, rose towards $ 2,000.
The total market volume of all around 8400 cryptocurrencies is now around 1.4 trillion dollars.
That too is a historic high.
Bitcoin cost up to $ 48,356 on Friday on the Luxembourg trading platform Bitstamp, which is more than ever before.
The course was boosted this week mainly by Tesla.
The US electric car maker announced on Monday that it had invested $ 1.5 billion in Bitcoin since January of this year and that it intends to accept the digital currency as a means of payment in the future.
Tesla boss
Elon Musk
(49) had fueled the hype about the crypto currency again and again through his messages on Twitter in the past few weeks.
With the company's investment in Bitcoin, Musk is now playing a dubious dual role, both as a Bitcoin investor and a market mover, as his tweets are met with great interest from his 46 million followers.
Tesla's investment now gives investors hope that other companies could follow suit, which would increase the acceptance of Bitcoin.
The most important cryptocurrencies in the world
Bitcoin Up Arrow Down Arrow
Bitcoin is by far the oldest and best-known digital currency.
With currently around 60 percent, it also has the largest market share of the currently around 7,000 crypto currencies.
Bitcoin was created during the financial crisis in 2008. Its inventor is only known by an alias to this day.
The most important features of Bitcoin are its decentralized organization and the use of the
"blockchain"
database technology
.
Together, both of these ensure a high degree of anonymity for Bitcoin users: payments in Bitcoin are practically impossible to track.
Ether Up arrow Down arrow
Ether is the second largest digital currency in the world after Bitcoin.
Their market share is just over ten percent.
One of the characteristics of Ether is the decentralized organization of the underlying
Etherum
network
.
On the other hand - and this is an important difference to Bitcoin - one focus of Ether is on "intelligent contracts".
These so-called smart contracts are basically small computer programs that can virtually automatically execute contracts after payment has been processed.
Similar to the blockchain database technology, smart contracts are predicted to have a great future.
Tether Up Arrow Down Arrow
Tether is one of the "stable coins", the value of which is guaranteed by backing them with classic investments.
In the case of Tether, it is the world's largest currency, the
US dollar
.
However, this violates an important idea of the cryptocurrency concept, namely independence from state institutions.
Nevertheless - or maybe because of it - Tether is very popular.
One advantage of the link to the US dollar is that the rate fluctuates less than other digital currencies.
However, in recent years there have been repeated doubts as to whether the alleged US dollar coverage is true.
Libra Up Arrow Down Arrow
Similar to Tether, Libra is a digital currency based on the "stable coins" principle, but with two huge differences.
First: it doesn't even exist yet.
Second: Behind Libra is
Facebook,
one of the most powerful technology companies in the world.
The idea of Libra is to give a digital currency a commercial breakthrough on a broad front.
The problem: State institutions are not at all enthusiastic about it.
Governments and central banks have long been investigating how they can make use of the concept of digital currencies.
But you don't like to be taken out of your hand.
The
"Libra Association"
initiated by Facebook has met with correspondingly great resistance
with its project.
Digital yuan Up arrow Down arrow
China has
long been working
on the digital version of its currency, the yuan or renminbi.
The project is in clear contrast to the liberal ideas that the masterminds of digital currencies once had.
Because a state uncontrolled, decentralized currency with anonymized payment processes is certainly not what the political leadership of the People's Republic has in mind.
On the contrary, it is more likely to be more interested in monitoring payment processes and related transactions as closely as possible.
The digital yuan can thus be seen as a kind of counter-draft to the original crypto currency Bitcoin.
Source: dpa-afx
Bitcoin donations for Kremlin critic Navalny surge to over $ 300,000
The support campaign for the imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny also benefits from the Bitcoin hype.
Supporters had donated both major currencies and digital currencies for Navalny in the past few months.
The Bitcoin wallet, which is managed by Navalny supporter Leonid Volkow and his HQ campaign and which Reuters was able to see, currently contains 6.2 Bitcoin worth 300,000 US dollars.
The campaign has also been accepting cryptocurrencies since 2016 - a smart move, as it now turns out.
Regardless of the donations in cryptocurrency, the donation volume for Navalny more than doubled in January year-on-year, said Volkow.
Navalny was arrested in January immediately after his return to Russia and sentenced to three and a half years in prison.
The protests against it continue, internationally as well as in Russia itself.
Ethereum also at a record high
Ethereum, the second largest crypto currency after Bitcoin, is also on the rise.
Number two in the crypto market is particularly popular in the financial scene, as one focus is on the decentralization of financial services.
more on the subject
Elon Musk is gambling with cryptocurrency: Tesla's Bitcoin investments are irresponsibleA comment by Mark Böschen
Cryptocurrency jumps to record high: Why Tesla boss Elon Musk is investing $ 1.5 billion in Bitcoin
Musk fires cryptocurrency: Dogecoin rises to record high
Record Hunt: What Explains the Latest Bitcoin BoomAn original text from the "Economist"
The crypto boom is also fueled by the glut of money from central banks and important industrialized countries.
During the Corona crisis, the central banks made their monetary policy, which was already loose, much more generous.
The states support consumers and companies with high spending, which increases the national debt burden sharply.
This development could result in increased inflation that would devalue traditional currencies.
Some investors are therefore increasingly asking for alternative investments such as digital currencies.
mg, ak / dpa-afx