Bitcoin Price Breaches $1000 Again in 2017
Bitcoin price has scaled beyond the $1000 for the second time in 2017 and the first time in four weeks. The end of 2016 saw the cryptocurrency flirting with $1000 before scaling the mark come the new year.
The Bitstamp Price Index (BPI) reveals bitcoin scaling the $1000 milestone at 16:30 (UTC) on Thursday and despite a brief dip shortly after, bitcoin was trading to the dollar at $1010 at the end of day.
Momentum stuck through the early hours of Friday as price swelled further to register a high of $1022.6 at 06:30. Prices fell below the threshold again toward $998 before recovering near the $1020 ceiling. Correction followed once again after price fell toward $994 at midday, to bounce back near the $1010 mark.
At the time of publishing, BPI shows bitcoin trading to the dollar at $1008.
Striking $1000 Post-PBOC’s Involvement
Bitcoin’s resurgence comes after a dramatic plunge in price rendered by the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, nearly a month ago. The financial authority’s involvement in looking into the business operating practices and services offered by bitcoin trading platforms in the country saw bitcoin price take a sharp fall as traders panicked toward a heavy sell-off.
Despite putting an end to zero trading fees and leveraged (margin) trading, that speculators believe inflated Chinese trading volumes – bitcoin is now trading beyond the ¥7,000 in China. Renewed confidence and a positive outlook at a time when the PBOC has officially stated that it is still continuing its on-site inspections, could prove a telling sign toward bitcoin finding support at the ¥7,000 level.
At BTCChina, bitcoin reached a high of ¥7,191.2 for the day. At the time of publishing, price is trading around the ¥7,100 mark.
Beyond concerns of capital flight through bitcoin in the future, there’s another reason behind PBOC’s public involvement in bitcoin exchanges’ activities. One that’s rarely mentioned, according to BTCC CEO Bobby Lee.
Speaking to Forbes earlier this week, he stated:
They don’t want Chinese people getting hurt when a bubble crashes. As a result, the PBOC created a unit to investigate and break the coverage of the Bitcoin price increase. The PBOC went to the exchanges, gave all of them a slap on the wrist, and asked for apologies. Then they released a statement to the press to break the cycle.
While that rapid growth cycle – one that saw a bullish run through most of Q4 2016 – did break, bitcoin is seeing winds in its sail again. It remains to be seen if the bitcoin finds support at the $1000 level.
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All time references are in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
Image from Shutterstock. Charts from BitcoinWisdom.
