Bitcoin price tops $10K for first time since 2018

Bitcoin’s price soared above $10,000 on cryptocurrency exchanges for the first time in 15 months, according to coindesk.com. The price hopped the $10K barrier at 7:35pm Eastern Time.

At press time, the top cryptocurrency by market capitalization is trading at $$10,080.49 – the highest level since March 8, 2018 – representing month-to-date gains in excess of 13 percent, according to CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index.  On a 24-hour basis, BTC is outshining most top 10 cryptocurrencies with 7 percent gains.

The price rise is backed by a 12 percent jump in trading volumes. As per data source CoinMarketCap, $21 billion worth of bitcoins have traded across cryptocurrency exchanges in the last 24 hours. Messari, however, is reporting the “Real 10” volume at $1.4 billion.

With the move above $10,000, bitcoin has erased more than 40 percent of the sell-off seen in twelve months to December 2018.  Further, prices look set to end the second quarter with triple-digit gains. As of writing, BTC is up more than 130 percent on a quarter-to-date basis.

Halving on the horizon

Looking forward, BTC may continue to shine bright as the cryptocurrency is set to undergo mining reward halving sometime in May 2020.

The process designed to curb inflation by reducing the reward for mining on bitcoin’s blockchain is repeated every four years and leads to supply deficit.

The upcoming reward halving may leave a bigger supply deficit if Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra ends up boosting bitcoin’s appeal and adoption rate as predicted by some observers.

On Tuesday, the social media giant launched the white paper to mixed reviews with pundits it a net positive development for bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general.

While bitcoin’s long-term prospects look bright, the cryptocurrency may see a pullback in the short-term. After all, prices have rallied more than 140 percent in the last 2.5-months and bulls usually take a breather following such stellar gains.