The bitcoin price punched through $4,900 on Tuesday, defying hostile Russian regulators and reaching ever closer to a new all-time high.
Bitcoin Price Breaks Past $4,920
“It feels like a $5k kinda day,” Blockchain Capital’s Spencer Bogart tweeted this morning, and he was not alone in this sentiment.
Since breaking through the psychologically-important $4,500 barrier earlier this week, bitcoin has continued to scale the charts, and investors have been anticipating the moment when the bitcoin price will leap across the $5,000 mark to set a new record.
The bitcoin price made a move in that direction on Monday, soaring above $4,875 after starting the day below $4,600. Although bitcoin began to taper later in the day, it held above $4,800, placing it within position to target $5,000.
And target this threshold it has. Today, the bitcoin price has taken another significant step toward history, climbing to a present global average of $4,920, placing it just $80 below the $5,000 mark. This represents a 24-hour gain of about 4% and gives bitcoin a market cap of nearly $82 billion.
Once again, Bithumb traders are leading the advance. Bitcoin is currently trading at $4,981 against the won — more than $60 above the global average, and Bitfinex’s USD pair is also trading above the average. BTC/JPY continues to lag behind, but the current value of this pair is much closer to the global average than it has been over the past several days, helping sustain bitcoin’s rise across the $4,900 level.
Bitcoin Defies Hostile Russian Regulators
Bitcoin’s last record-setting rally was impeded by Chinese regulation, and it appeared another regulatory agency was going to attempt to foil this present advance, too. As CCN reported, a Russian Central bank official stated that the country will begin blocking access to websites for bitcoin exchanges and trading platforms, greatly hindering the ability of Russian residents to participate in the crypto economy. Russian president Vladimir Putin added that cryptocurrencies present “serious risks” to the economy, making him the highest-profile politician to publicly comment on digital currency.
However, Russian trading volume is insignificant — and bitcoin has already shown its ability to weather a much more significant ban from a country that played a much more central role to the ecosystem — so the markets have thus far reacted to the news with little more than a shrug.