Bitcoin Soars Over $40,000 USD for the First Time Since June
After Elon Musk said he’s still holding onto the coin.
Bitcoin topped $40,000 USD on Monday afternoon, reaching a six-week high.
The cryptocurrency jumped to $40,278 USD just before 3:30 p.m. EDT, according to Coindesk, before tapering down to around $37,300 USD at the time of posting. According to Coinbase, the digital coin saw an increase of about 7.5 percent within the last 24 hours, exceeding a market cap of about $700 billion USD.
The coin last rose above $40,000 USD in mid-June, down from its all-time high of about $63,000 USD in April. According to The Wall Street Journal, speculation over Amazon‘s foray into digital currency and news last week that Elon Musk and his companies still hold bitcoin may have led to the price rise.
“SpaceX, Tesla and I own bitcoin,” he said during a conference hosted by the Crypto Council for Innovation last Wednesday, adding that he also owns ethereum and dogecoin. “We’re not selling any bitcoin, nor am I selling anything personally nor is SpaceX selling any bitcoin.”
Musk’s confidence in the cryptocurrency sent the price of the coin skyward last week, reaching a high of about $32,800 USD before inching downward, according to Coindesk. Ethereum and dogecoin also saw increases of about 13 percent each.
He also said that Tesla may resume accepting bitcoin if it moved away from fossil fuels.
In other news, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said he hopes bitcoin will bring “world peace.”
