By CCN.com: One of the most powerful lawmakers in the United States pleaded with his colleagues to bury the American cryptocurrency industry, and the bitcoin price responded by promptly surging to a fresh six-month high.
Bitcoin bounded as high as $6,336 on Bitstamp, vaulting the flagship cryptocurrency to its highest point since it embarked on a brutal sell-off in November 2018. The bitcoin price has now rallied a mouth-watering 69% in 2019 and continues to race toward flashing its first green yearly candle in what feels like an eternity.
Friday’s triumphant march past $6,300 came less than a day after US Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) begged his colleagues on the House Financial Services Committee to “outlaw cryptocurrency purchases by Americans.” We need to “nip this in the bud,” he whined.
Sherman ranted that cryptocurrencies like bitcoin threatened to supplant the US dollar as the “standard unit of international finance,” crippling the United States government’s ability to dictate global economic policy and enforce sanctions on hostile foes like Iran.
“An awful lot of our international power comes from the fact that the U.S. dollar is the standard unit of international finance and transactions. Clearing through the New York Fed is critical for major oil and other transactions.”
Given that US investors dominate the cryptocurrency trading market, it’s hard to see today’s jump as anything but a naked retort to Rep. Sherman, who in the past has lambasted bitcoin as a “crock” and said that its only non-criminal use case is to “allow a few dozen men in my district to sit in their pajamas all day and tell their wives they’re going to be millionaires.”
Against that inflammatory backdrop, you can almost hear investors cackling with glee as they mashed the buy button, launching a suddenly-buoyant bitcoin past a key resistance level at $6,200 and even deeper into bull market territory. Given that the upswell began late Thursday evening, it’s likely that some of them actually were wearing their PJs.
Rep. Sherman, incidentally, appears to have a vested interest in suppressing crypto adoption. According to the Center for Responsible Politics , Sherman’s largest individual political contributions have come from legacy financial institutions including Royal Business Bank and digital payment processors like Allied Wallet.
Not that that plays any role whatsoever in his vehement bitcoin hatred.
Much to Brad Sherman’s chagrin, eToro analyst Simon Peters said that bitcoin’s strong push past $6,000 confirms the cryptocurrency market’s bullish trend.
Stating that bitcoin had passed its “moment of truth” with flying colors, Peters predicted that BTC will achieve a mammoth rally throughout the remainder of 2019, eventually rising as high as $14,000 by December.
“Breaking through the $6,000 barrier is a moment of truth for Bitcoin. This had been a major support level throughout most of 2018 and holds major psychological significance for the community.”
“I expect to see a small sell-off initially before the price breaks higher. If this happens, we could see prices reach levels last seen at the start of 2018, potentially hitting the $12,000-$14,000 range by the end of the year.”