On Thursday, Bitcoin prices reached a record high following BNY Mellon’s announcement that it will soon issue, transfer, and hold cryptocurrencies for its clients in asset management. Bitcoin prices fell slightly, but were up 5% by 9pm GMT at $47700
According to crypto bulls, the announcement by America’s oldest bank could open the door for other banks to announce similar plans as cryptocurrency gains popularity among wealthy investors.
In a corporate statement, the custodian bank disclosed that it is developing a prototype platform to allow cryptocurrency transactions through the same network that it uses for traditional asset investments.
This news was only 24 hours after Twitter Chief Financial Officer stated that the social media giant was looking at adding the cryptocurrency to its balance sheets.
The whole thing started when Tesla said earlier this week that it would invest $1.5 billion in Bitcoin. It also expects to accept Bitcoin as a payment method in the near future. The electric vehicle manufacturer was not the only firm that converted a portion of its cash to bitcoin. Square, a payment startup, and other Wall Street whales have adopted the policy to store their excess cash into crypto in the past year.
After the Bitcoin price reached $48,696, an all-time record, it was almost half a million dollars higher than in February.
With increased interest from larger investors, traders continue to see a steady rise in bitcoin’s value and are now aiming for the psychological $50,000 level per bitcoin. The cryptocurrency’s current rally has taken its gains to over 1,000% from the March 2020 low.
According to industry website CoinMarketCap, this resulted in the total value of all bitcoin tokens in circulation surpassing $990 billion.
