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Bitcoin Surges on the back of Facebook Support for Crypto

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Bitcoin surged to a near 16-month high above $11,000 Monday, overshadowing stock, foreign exchange and commodity markets and breathing new life into a sector that many had declared moribund.

Bitcoin reached $11,280 at one point after powering through $10,000 for the first time since March last year, propelled by a huge boost from Facebook’s unveiling of its own digital unit Libra, analysts said.

Calling bitcoin’s rise a “blast from the past”, OANDA analyst Craig Erlam said the Facebook cryptocurrency launch seemed to be “legitimising the industry” which had come under scrutiny after the coin fell 80 percent from its peaks.

“Bitcoin is very much back in the headlines, as the cryptocurrency surged through $10,000 for the first time in more than a year and reminded us all of the good old days of late-2017,” Erlam said.

Bitcoin has risen about 20 percent this month alone but is still well off record levels near $20,000 seen at the end of 2017.

Expectations that G7 countries will introduce stringent rules concerning investor identities did little to dampen the new-found enthusiasm for bitcoin, noted Gary McFarlane, a cryptocurrency analyst at interactive investor.

This article is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Corporation or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. Leveraged trading is high risk and not suitable for all. You could lose all of your deposited funds.

Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza

@alfonso_forex

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