The largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin rose as high as $9,142.80 on Tuesday, a level that is last seen early November. Other coins rallied as well, with the Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index gaining as much as 1.7% to more than a two-month high. The increases come after last week’s poor performance in the run-up to Lunar New Year celebrations, which some participants expected to trigger a slowdown in trading.
Potential explanations for the rally include Bitcoin’s potential new safe-haven status amid risk-off moves fueled by the spread of the virus. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou last week said that options on the cryptocurrency are ‘off to a decent start.’
Nomura Securities International’s Charlie McElligott in a note Monday pointed to US five-year real yields at the most negative since April 2017 “acting as a major bullish catalyst for gold and Bitcoin.”
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