We often get accused of only reporting on the bitcoin price when it goes down. And while that’s not entirely fair, we will admit that it mostly is. So sue us. There’s just something about a massive Ponzi scheme being sold to unsuspecting consumers as the “democratisation of finance” that irks us a little.
But not today! Join up join up, because bitcoin is on its way to da moon! Who cares if you’re just lining the pockets of the old HODLers? Number go up!
That’s right. Bitcoin on Wednesday popped above $20,000, that milestone it just failed to reach (on most exchanges anyway) back in 2017. At pixel time, it was up 7 per cent on the day at just above $20,750, according to Coindesk.
Here’s a one-year chart:
Where next?! Well, as we often say, we have absolutely no clue! There are no fundamentals and the only thing underpinning the price is belief. Which is surely part of the fun of it all? As a wise man once said (his name rhymes with Vladim Blubber), bitcoin gives you “something to do, to think about, to talk and dream about. In a word, it’s entertaining.”
So jump on board if you feel like a wild ride and don’t care about the environmental or security concerns and don’t actually expect to be able to spend bitcoin anywhere without paying several percentage points in fees, we reckon! You won’t be the only late arrivers to the party.
London-based asset manager Ruffer confirmed on Wednesday that it had made a bet now worth more than half a billion pounds on bitcoin last month, calling it a “small but potent insurance policy against the continuing devaluation of the world’s major currencies”. It should be noted that Ruffer has had this view on inflationary forces for a decade — about the same amount of time that bitcoin bros have expected it to replace the dollar. So we’re not sure what suddenly made them take out this ultra-safe “insurance policy”.
And Barack Obama’s in the game too. No honestly!
There’s probably a reason Coinfloor chief executive Obi Nwosu cropped the tweet just above the bit where it says Obama follows almost 600,000 people. But we’re sure Obama is chuffed to bits at being called the “funniest and smartest POTUS”.
You might not want to go into church this Christmas so as to protect your granny, but rejoice! For once again we can worship at the altar of the coin of bits.