The big picture: Bitcoin is in uncharted territory. Now more than ever, its future hinges on what happens next. On one hand, it's not as far-fetched as it once was to imagine crypto going mainstream and becoming a major platform to facilitate the exchange of value and as a legitimate store of value. Skeptics, meanwhile, are concerned that crypto lacks intrinsic value and is a huge bubble that is ripe to burst.
The world's largest cryptocurrency by market value reached an all-time high today after flirting with the milestone for the better part of the past week.
Bitcoin briefly passed the $50,000 mark on Tuesday morning. According to data from CoinDesk, Bitcoin's value topped out at $50,480.77 around 6:30 a.m. Central before dipping back slightly. As of writing, a single coin is trading for $49.429.70.
The milestone is largely psychological as Bitcoin's value has hovered near the $50K mark for several days now.
Bitcoin's latest rally was sparked by a $1.5 billion investment in the cryptocurrency from Tesla, which was revealed in an SEC filing on February 8. We've since seen heightened interest from other large companies and financial institutions including Twitter and Mastercard. Uber is also considering accepting Bitcoin for services rendered but isn't interested in using its own money to buy assets.
Images courtesy Visual Generation, Wit Olszewski