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Bitcoin
on Friday morning soared by more than $500, crossing $5,800
for the first time and putting in a record high of $5,866 a coin,
according to Bloomberg data. The cryptocurrency has since pared
its gains, but it still trades up 3.92% at $5,626 a coin.
Friday’s advance comes after Coinbase, a digital currency
exchange, announced that
customers could instantly purchase bitcoin and other
cryptocurrencies using a US bank account. Those customers
previously had to wait several days before receiving their
digital currency.
It has been a monster week for bitcoin, which has soared nearly
30% since last Friday’s close. It
blew through the highly anticipated $5,000 level on Thursday,
just days after The Wall Street Journal reported that
Goldman Sachs was looking into setting up a bitcoin trading
operation, and Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman said the
cryptocurrency was “certainly more than just a fad.”
But things didn’t look too promising in September. News of a
crackdown on trading in China and regulatory uncertainty
around initial coin offerings, a cryptocurrency-based fundraising
method, pushed the cryptocurrency to a low of $2,900 a coin on
September 15.
Neil Wilson, a senior analyst at ETX Capital, told Business
Insider on Thursday that “bulls returned to the market with a
vengeance.”
Bitcoin is up about 476% this year.
Get the latest Bitcoin price here.