In case you hadn’t heard , bitcoin is back. The original – and still biggest –surged to a record high of more than $72,000 on Monday, having more than tripled in value in the space of a year. Other crypto tokens, such as ethereum and dogecoin – beloved by– have also been rallying, with the estimated value of the market climbing to above $2.7 trillion for the first time in more than two years.
No, crypto in 2024 is a rather more subdued affair. And the reason is that the factors reckoned to be driving rising prices are far from the kind of wild crazes we’ve seen before, such as the mania for initial coin offerings in 2017 or for non-fungible tokens in 2021.SNP leader looks to Republic in bid to free Scotland from Britain’s flagging economy
Some of the world’s biggest banks – Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Bank of America – are reportedly lining up to get involved in bitcoin, too. He’s right, of course: when something is backed only by belief, you want as many believers as you can get. But this does rather give the game away about what motivates people to be on “Team Bitcoin”.