History in the making: Bitcoin Hits $50,000

While various on-chain indicators are nearing frothy territory, the bitcoin rally continues. In fact, it’s just crossed $50,000 for the first time.

In brief

Bitcoin just crossed $50,000. Its market cap is just short of $1 trillion at the time of publishing.
Along with Ethereum, Bitcoin has outperformed every traditional asset year-to-date.
Bitcoin is now the sixth biggest asset in the world by market cap.

Bitcoin Breaks $50,000

Bitcoin exchanged hands above $50,000 briefly on Tuesday.

The pioneering cryptocurrency broke $25,000 for the first time on December 26th 2020, and has doubled in price in less than two months.

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Recently, the asset has been particularly bullish as news propelled fresh impetus into an already raging bull market.

On Feb. 8th, bitcoin cut through $42,000 after Tesla revealed it made a $1.5 billion investment in the asset. The price rallied over 9% in the following hour the news – during which time crypto enthusiasts identified $50,000 as a key psychological benchmark.

Bitcoin ‘OG’s’ and enthusiasts are not alone in sharing this sentiment. JP Morgan analysts placed a $146,000 price-tag on bitcoin, while Citibank projected $300,000. The investment bank pointed to the ‘digital gold’ narrative, which exists in tandem with US dollar devaluation caused in large part by its infinite availability.

Crypto outperforms traditional assets

Present circumstances shows a market filled with optimism. Along with Ethereum, the leading crypto has historically outperformed traditional assets like the NASDAQ and gold by large margins. On a yearly basis, Ethereum leads gains with 82% and bitcoin at 61%. Meanwhile, the NASDAQ index is up only 7.8%, and gold logs negative returns of 7.3%.