The price of bitcoin (BTC) rocketed past $30,000 for the first time ever Saturday after setting an all-time high the day before, all in all starting 2021 in notable fashion following a remarkable year by the leading cryptocurrency.
- Once the price of bitcoin crossed the $30,000 mark, something it had struggled to do for the last couple of days, it took off as if all resistance had been removed, hitting a new all-time high of $30,850.15 before dropping back to $30,688.89, up 4.41% in the last 24 hours.
- The performance comes after a year in which the cryptocurrency rose more than 300% in 2020, with an almost 50% gain just in December, sort of like a boulder gaining speed downhill, only in the opposite direction.
- For those who prefer dollar figures to percentages: On Nov. 30, bitcoin breeched a nearly three-year-old high of $19,793. By the close of Dec. 31, the cryptocurrency rose almost $10,000.
- And of course the market value of bitcoin jumped as well, rocketing past many of the most well-known companies in the world. With a market value of $569.1 billion, BTC is now more valuable than all but nine publicly traded companies, sitting between Alibaba at $648.3 billion and Berkshire Hathaway at $543.7 billion.