Bitcoin news live: Latest BTC price and updates

Prominent bitcoiners are preparing for a major price pump to celebrate El Salvador adopting the cryptocurrency as legal tender.

CoinCorner CEO Danny Scott and MicroStrategy boss Michael Saylor are among those encouraging people to buy $30 of bitcoin on 7 September – the same amount that citizens are being offered through the Chivo wallet app to encourage mass adoption.

Reddit’s /r/Bitcoin forum also has several posts supporting the price pump, while other bitcoin fans are using Twitter to promote the “mass buying” event.

Bitcoin’s 200 week moving average has just hit a new all-time high, reaching above $15,100.

The latest high, spotted by pseudonymous Dutch analyst PlanB, follows a trend that has seen the price of bitcoin grow over the long term.

“Nobody who bought bitcoin and [held] for four-plus years lost money,” PlanB said last week. “Ever.”

The 200WMA was below $100 in 2014 and only crossed $1,000 in 2017. If another major bull run occurs, as PlanB predicts, the moving average would be on track to pass $100,000 within the next five years.

While a lot of the recent focus on bitcoin has been centred on its price, there have been some positive news stories focussing on the cryptocurrency’s technology and how it can prove life-changing for those cut off by traditional financial services.

A first-hand account by an individual on the ground in Afghanistan has offered a glimpse into how bitcoin can benefit those living under Taliban rule.

“Just like our personal freedom, our economic freedom is quickly disappearing, as many anticipate we’re on the brink of an all-out economic collapse,” the person writes anonymously in the article for The Tokenist.

“Fortunately, developments around technology have provided us with an alternative. Digital assets, while no guarantee of freedom, can assist in obtaining some level of freedom.

“They can be beneficial in bypassing oppressive power structures by offering users 24/7 access to funds in a permissionless manner. With legacy finance in Afghanistan on the brink of collapse, a vacuum for another system is already felt. Surely, crypto can’t fix Afghanistan, but it suggests an alternative financial system for every Afghan man and woman who has been cut off from the world.”

A fresh bitcoin price rally overnight has taken the cryptocurrency to its highest point since May.

With El Salvador set to officially recognise the crypto as a form of currency tomorrow, there are hopes that a price pump from btc advocates could help it rise even further. Notable figures within the industry have called on people to buy $30 of bitcoin to celebrate the legislation coming into effect on 7 September.

Taking a longer-term view, bitcoin is up by more than five-times since this time last year.

To The Independent’s live coverage of the crypto market. We’ll have all the latest news, analysis and expert price predictions for bitcoin, Ethereum (ether) and other leading cryptocurrencies.