Bitcoin, rising again today to almost $8,000 following a raft of positive announcements coming out of the first day of Blockchain Week NYC and CoinDesk’s Consensus 2019 event, as well as embattled cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex soothing the market with news it’s raised $1 billion in fresh investment, is looking its strongest so far this year.
The bitcoin price hit year-to-date highs of $7,878 per bitcoin on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange earlier today after starting the year at under $4,000 and rising a staggering 55% in the last 30 days alone. Bitcoin rocketed over the weekend, rising more than $1,000 per bitcoin in a matter of days.
Now, results of a survey from HBUS, the U.S. partner of the Singapore-based Huobi bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange, has revealed “rapid” bitcoin and crypto adoption, with the percentage of people in the U.S. holding cryptocurrencies doubling over the last year.
HBUS, which surveyed just over 1,000 people in the U.S. between March and April this year, found 20% of people asked had invested in cryptocurrency, with men more than twice as likely to have bought into crypto than women.
Almost three-quarters of those asked (74%) were aware of cryptocurrencies, with people saying they think the potential of the technology, privacy, and security are its greatest assets.
“Over the past few years, the digital asset and blockchain sector has faced massive shifts,” said HBUS CEO, Frank Fu. “Despite the volatile crypto markets, we’re seeing governments and businesses adopting blockchain technology at a rapid pace.”
Word of mouth appears to be a big factor in people’s choice of cryptocurrency investment, with around 60% of survey participants saying they chose their existing cryptocurrency exchange because a friend told them about it.
The bitcoin price has risen sharply over the last month, though remains far from its all-time highs of almost $20,000 per bitcoin set in late 2017. CoinDesk
While cryptocurrency adoption has been found to have doubled since 2018, lack of understanding, privacy, and security are among the top reasons for people staying away from bitcoin and cryptocurrency.
Meanwhile, in the first of what’s expected to be many announcements coming out of NYC and CoinDesk’s Consensus 2019 event, Intercontinental Exchange’s (ICE) independent bitcoin and cryptocurrency project Bakkt has said it’s ready to launch its bitcoin futures contract in July.
The bitcoin and cryptocurrency market was also emboldened today after the chief technology officer of major bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex said the company had raised $1 billion in fresh investment in an 11-day campaign following an accounting scandal that revealed an $850 million funding gap and an associated legal indictment.
“Private companies, giants in our industry and outside, made investments for > 100m each. A legion of inside and outside users made investments for > 1m each,” Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino said via Twitter.
