Bitcoin has been compared to the internet in the mid-late 1990s, when internet adoption soared rapidly.Photo: Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) started the week on a slow drag downhill but held above the $40,000 (£29,607) resistance level after a slide from last week’s high of $45,661.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency was fell 0.9% to $42,047 on Monday morning in London.
It comes as hashrates for the bitcoin network hit an all-time high over the weekend, reaching 248.11 million tera hashes per second on Saturday.
Some bullish movement last week saw the cryptocurrency finally break the key $40,000 threshold for the first time in almost a month amid regulation and a global financial squeeze.
Ethereum ( ETH-USD ) — second biggest crypto by market value — corresponded with bitcoin’s bullishness despite edging 2.2% lower to $2,860 on Monday.Memecoins doge ( DOGE-USD ) and shiba inu ( SHIB-USD ) declined 1% and 0.3% respectively.
Bitcoin held above the $40,000 resistance level on Monday.Chart: Yahoo Finance UK US investment bank JP Morgan Chase & Co ( JPM ) recently estimated the “fair value” of the crypto world’s so-called liquid gold to be around 12% below its current price.
Strategists led by analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, estimated bitcoin’s value at around $38,000, based on the crypto being around four times as volatile as gold.
Wells Fargo ( WFC ) posted a bullish report on crypto last week.Analysts at Wells Fargo Investment Institute (WFII), the advisor and subsidiary of Wells Fargo Bank, have asserted that cryptocurrency adoption is still in its early stages.
They compared cryptos to the internet in the mid-late 1990s, when internet adoption soared rapidly.
The bank claimed that about 13% of Americans traded cryptocurrencies in the past 12 months, which is similar to the internet’s adoption rate in 1995.
Experts also noted that crypto “could soon hit a hyper-infliction point”, which foreshadows an extremely exciting period for the industry, but also rightly warned that “if history is any guide, many will fail”.
However, not every bank in the US is on board with cryptocurrencies.The Bank of America ( BAC ) said on Friday that bitcoin is not a safe haven and refused to accept the crypto.
Story continues Read more: JP Morgan estimates bitcoin’s fair value
Marcus Sotiriou, analyst at GlobalBlock said it’s only a “matter of time” before banks change their stance, as bitcoin becomes adopted, not only by more institutions, but by more countries around the world.
Last month, Goldman Sachs ( GS ) said the crypto will compete with gold ( GC=F ) as a store of value.As crypto adoption continues, parts of gold market capitalisation will shift into bitcoin.
Bank of America (BoA) noted that the correlation between bitcoin and gold — a metal that’s often treated as an inflation hedge or store of value — has stayed at close to zero since June 2021.
Bitcoin’s volatility has dropped from the highs seen in 2013, but it remains elevated relative to the S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ), Nasdaq ( ^IXIC ) and gold, a BoA report said.
Last week, the US justice department arrested a married couple for money laundering and fraud after the seizure of $3.6bn in allegedly stolen bitcoin.
The stolen cryptocurrency was linked to a 2016 hack of virtual currency exchange Bitfinex.The funds stolen by a hacker who breached Bitfinex were initially valued at about $71m, but with the surge in the bitcoin’s value it is currently valued at over $5bn.
Watch: What is bitcoin?.
