Bitcoin for $ 60,000: bank chief considers cryptocurrency "worthless"

The Bitcoin price is on the verge of a new all-time high.

But not everyone is enthusiastic about the success of the crypto currency - on the contrary.

Frankfurt - There is still a gold rush atmosphere on the crypto market.

The price of the digital currency Bitcoin * jumped above the 60,000 dollar mark on Friday (October 15, 2021) for the first time since April.

The price is approaching a new all-time high.

The reason for the high price: It is expected that the US Securities and Exchange Commission could approve exchange-traded index funds (ETF) that are linked to the cryptocurrency.

ETFs (Exchange Trading Funds) track the performance of a stock market index.

With these financial products, investors can participate in the success of Bitcoin without directly owning the currency *.

Bitcoin worth more than $ 62,000

Within a month, the Bitcoin price has already risen by around 40 percent.

On Saturday morning (October 16, 2021), according to the crypto platform coinmarketcap.com, it was more than $ 62,000 (as of 8:19 a.m.).

The price of the digital currency reached its all-time high in mid-April 2021 at over $ 64,000.

An investment in Bitcoin is considered high-risk *. The rate of the largest and oldest digital currency is extremely volatile - depending on the news it is subject to massive fluctuations. Bitcoin weakened after its all-time high and plunged to $ 29,000 in July. Anyone who struck at this point can now look forward to a return of more than 100 percent.

A month ago, the Chinese central bank declared all financial transactions involving cryptocurrencies to be illegal.

Business in connection with digital currencies are "illegal financial activities" and alleged suspects should expect criminal investigations, the central bank said.

The Bitcoin miners in China * completed around three quarters of all Bitcoin transactions that devour a lot of energy a year ago.

Fears that Bitcoin could collapse sharply due to the ban in the important Chinese market, however, did not come true.

Bitcoin ban in China is hardly a problem

As the latest figures from the Center for Alternative Finance at the University of Cambridge show, the USA * overtook China as the global market leader for the first time in mining the currency. Over a third of the output for so-called mining now comes from the USA, while China has dropped to a no longer measurable share in the statistics. With a market share of just under 4.5 percent, Germany ranks seventh worldwide.

With crypto mining, users make the capacities of their computers available for checking and encrypting transactions and are rewarded for this in the respective crypto currency.

Beijing had raided crypto miners in the spring.

The mining capacities were then heavily withdrawn from China and the producers made their way to the cheapest energy sources in the world: including Russia, Canada or the USA.

Other cryptocurrencies also benefit from the high Bitcoin exchange rate

Whether the Bitcoin is actually a worthwhile and sensible investment vehicle is widely discussed in the market.

The head of the American bank JPMorgan Chase, James Dimon, said at a conference on Monday (October 11th, 2021): "Personally, I think Bitcoin is worthless." He compared buying cryptocurrency with cigarette smoking - he is neither of the two big fan.

In the shadow of the Bitcoin boom, numerous other digital currencies are also benefiting.

The second largest coin, Ethereum, was also able to gain and is facing a new all-time high.

(tvd / AFP / dpa)