This week, the price of Bitcoin surpassed the historic high of $8,300. Doped by the progressive softening of the world of finance, crypto-money seduces a growing number of curious people who see it as a way to easily enrich themselves. At the risk of burning your wings?
With a price at the record level of 8300 dollars on Monday, November 20, the bitcoin will quickly recover from the fall of nearly a third of its value the previous weekend. The most famous of the electronic currencies, whose price did not exceed 1000 dollars as of January 1, 2017, today has a capitalization of more than 130 billion dollars, or 56% of what weighs all the cryptocurrencies already "mined" in the world.
Growing demand
Bitcoin is in the spotlight. Not a day goes by without a flood of press articles arousing the curiosity of Internet users, inflating the potential number of curious people who are tempted to open an account on one of the crypto-currency trading platforms. Coinbase, the world's largest market place for this type of transaction, had some 12.8 million accounts opened as of November 18, compared to 4.7 million a year earlier. If all these accounts are not or no longer active, it is the growth in recent months that is interesting: 55,000 new accounts per day in November compared to 32,000 in October and 27,000 in September, on this platform alone.
But this influx of newcomers can only raise the price. "These people come to buy, not sell. There is a funnel effect," Alain Pitous, asset manager in Paris, said on BFM Business. It makes sense, because the rise in the price of bitcoins over the last few months does not encourage the holders of the 16.7 million bitcoins in circulation around the world to sell them... for the time being.
Recognition of institutional players
At the same time, the finance sector, which had long looked at bitcoin with sympathy, is beginning to take this issue seriously. One of the world's largest stock exchange operators, the CME Group in Chicago even created a surprise at the end of October by launching a futures contract on bitcoin ("futures" in English, two parties commit to the price of an asset in advance, with delivery and payment taking place on time). For the first time, bitcoin will be exchanged within a regulated framework. Enough to reassure many investors.
Expected for the second week of December, these derivatives have already attracted the attention of one of the UK's largest investment funds, Man Group, which manages $100 billion in assets:"If the CME launches its options on bitcoin, we will position ourselves" announced its CEO, Luke Ellis, last week. A statement that will undoubtedly have had a more than positive effect on the cryptographic currency over the past few days.
But the prospects for a two- or even three-digit return on investment are not everyone's taste. The introduction of bitcoin on the futures market will increase its volatility tenfold. It can tend towards 100,000 as if it were zero,"says Jean-Louis Cussac, independent trader and founder of Perceval finance conseil. In the same vein, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) published last weekend a short guide on investment in bitcoin, also reminding us that speculation could be a dangerous game for beginners. A game where you can win big... or lose all your bet.