Bitcoin Surpasses $29,000 Levels, Quadruples In 2020

Bitcoin ended 2020 at record highs, surpassing the $29,000 level to close at $29,442.30 on 31 December. The most popular cryptocurrency had the best monthly rally since 2019 in December.

Bitcoin has almost quadrupled in value in 2020 amid the global coronavirus pandemic. The wider Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index tracking the largest digital currencies is up about 280% as rival coins such as Ether have also rallied.

In Indian rupee, the value is currently over Rs 21.53 lakh.

Experts say that the rally in 2020 was largely due to institutional adoption in the last few months of 2020. Firms like Guggenheim, Fidelity, Blackrock, stated that Bitcoin has the potential to replace gold as a store of value, triggering interest among risk-taking investors and speculators alike.

However, some wealth managers caution retail investors and ask them to strictly avoid investing in bitcoin as they believe the prices have been highly volatile, completely driven by speculative forces with no clear underlying basis on what price should they be traded.

Note that cryptocurrencies have no governing/regulatory authority in India.