Closing at $10,793 on Sunday (Sept. 27), bitcoin set a record with 63 straight days of closing above $10,000, according to CoinDesk.
The cryptocurrency’s previous record was between Dec. 1, 2017, and Jan. 31, 2018, in which the coin was valued at above $10,000 for 62 days straight. At that time, the all-time high was $19,900 on Coinbase after it had surged almost 100 percent in two weeks.
This time around, the range has been sitting between $10,000 and $12,500, according to CoinDesk.
Coin Metrics statistics show that the 180-day returns volatility for bitcoin is down 41 percent so far in September, CoinDesk reported.
The closes over $10,000 haven’t been this high in some time, according to a chart from CoinDesk, with the only dates close being 28 days in July 2019 and 25 days in June 2019.
In other news, CoinFlip will now offer a bitcoin-enabled gift card marketplace, according to a report by Bitcoin Magazine.
The marketplace came about through a partnership with eGifter and will allow for the sale of gift cards in exchange for bitcoin.
That will allow more underbanked residents to invest in bitcoin through CoinFlip and also exchange the cryptocurrency for goods and services. The ultimate goal for bitcoin is to become a currency that can be used anywhere just like most mainstream currencies, such as cash or debit cards, CoinFlip reported, but the idea of using gift cards as a middleman between it and retailers is an important step.
Dustin Wei, CoinFlip’s head of business development, said the idea was spurred through the hope of branching out more with crypto services.
“CoinFlip is always looking to bring new crypto services to our customer base, which is primarily retail investors and people who are underserved by financial institutions,” he said, according to the report. “Gift cards are a great way for our customers to actually spend their bitcoin at the merchants that they choose. CoinFlip offers several different ways to buy bitcoin, but this is the first time that we are offering a way for people to spend it.”
And, U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway of Texas is looking to add more options for cryptocurrencies to be treated like commodities and talked about his new bill with Cointelegraph.
Last week, Conaway introduced the Digital Commodity Exchange Act, which would work to give crypto exchanges the option to register with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTFC), a national regulator, rather than going to individual states for licensing for money transmitter or money service provider work.
Conaway said the legislation would make sure new crypto assets “automatically fall into the category of commodity” if they meet definitions in the bill.
“We’ve had a couple of members of the committee that were really close to wanting to sign onto the bill,” Conaway told Cointelegraph. “We think that we’ll wind up with good bipartisan support.”
