Bitcoin at $34,000: new all-time high

Yesterday, January 3rd, 2021, on its 12th birthday the price of bitcoin hit a new all-time high.

In fact, the first block on the Bitcoin blockchain was mined by Satoshi Nakamoto on January 3rd, 2009, so yesterday marked 12 years since then. 

According to CoinMarketCap‘s data, the highest price recorded yesterday was $34,608, the only time in history that it has exceeded $34,000. 

Moreover, the previous record was set the day before, on January 2nd, when it first broke the $30,000 mark and also reached $33,100. 

It should be noted that this is not only a price record in relation to the dollar, but also in relation to gold.

The price of gold is not currently at an all-time high, although it is close. The all-time high occurred on August 6th, 2020, when it exceeded $2,000. It is now just above $1,900. 

According to Market Watch data, yesterday the price of BTC reached an all-time high of 18.1 XAU, or ounces of gold. For instance, during the speculative bubble in late 2017, it had been just over 10 XAU, while by mid-2019 it was back around 8 XAU. 

During 2020, the price of bitcoin had more or less always fluctuated between 5 and 6 XAU, but from November onwards it began a fast and powerful ascent that took it to yesterday’s record high. 

After all, it is well known that bitcoin’s volatility is considerably higher than that of gold, the latter also being known for its lower average volatility. 

Bitcoin, the all-time high is dragging the altcoins 

It is worth noting that in the last few days, and yesterday in particular, some altcoins have seen significant price increases.

In particular, ETH gained more than 30% in just one day, rising above $1,000. This is not an all-time high, as it was recorded on January 13th, 2018 at $1,432, but it is an all-time high nonetheless, as it has not been able to return to this level since January of that year.

Litecoin (LTC) is also growing strongly, as are Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Cardano (ADA) and Chainlink (LINK). 

The largest growth, however, has been experienced by Polkadot (DOT) which, after rising almost 80% in the last week, stopped yesterday at +6%.