Bitcoin Price Hits 40-Day High as It Surges Above $9,300

Bitcoin's continuous rise over the last week saw the cryptocurrency surge to above $9,300 on Tuesday. The world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization hit a 40-day high since March 14 when the currency dropped $800 within one trading day to reach $8,000.

This is good news for the currency which has been recently burdened with several threats including the risk of increased regulation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and regulators worldwide shutting down services due to fears of criminal crypto money laundering.

A resilient currency

"Bitcoin's price has shown resilience multiples times this year when it has dropped below $7k, even in the wake of negative events such as India’s recent ban on banks engaging in cryptocurrency-related activity, Mt Gox trustee sales, and tax-related selling," Garrick Hileman, co-founder of the cryptocurrency data and research firm Mosaic.io, told Forbes.

"Positive drivers include reports that major financial institutions, such as Barclays, are getting more serious about entering the crypto space," Hileman added.

Although this rise might seem impressive, it is nothing compared to what some industry experts say bitcoin could reach. Hedge fund manager John Pfeffer told CNBC bitcoin could rise to no less than $90,000 and potentially as high as $700,000 in just a couple of years.

Replacing gold

Pfeffer added that bitcoin is the “first viable candidate to replace gold the world has seen.” He explained that using gold in a digital world is “silly” and that it is only logical that the metal should eventually be replaced by a superior technology.

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Investors Alistair Milne and Tim Draper have also made some bold statements about bitcoins potential price surge. The first has said the currency will reach between $35,000 and $60,000 by 2020, while the latter has estimated it will soar up to $250,000 by 2022.

The cryptocurrency market in general has also been rising in the past month reaching above $400 billion in total capitalization, while four out of the five largest cryptocurrencies are currently at one-month highs.

Last week, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde published a blogpost in support of the currency’s fast transactions and safe blockchain technology. “Just as a few technologies that emerged from the dot-com era have transformed our lives, the crypto assets that survive could have a significant impact on how we save, invest and pay our bills,” Lagarde said.

Ironically enough, a few hours after bitcoin’s price high reached the news, MIT Technology Review released an article entitled “Let’s Destroy Bitcoin,” outlining how the cryptocurrency could be “be brought down, co-opted, or made irrelevant.” I guess they can't all be fans.