What’s driving the Bitcoin price higher?

The Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) price is up 1.3% over the past 24 hours. One Bitcoin is currently worth US$60,634 (AU$79,782).

According to data from CoinDesk, US$56.5 billion worth Bitcoin have changed virtual hands since this time yesterday.

The Bitcoin price has rebounded more than 18% since it traded below US$51,280 on 26 March.

What’s driving the new Bitcoin price surge?

Simon Peters, market and crypto analyst at online trading and brokerage company eToro, says that renewed strength in the Bitcoin price is due to a range of factors. These include “new demand from institutional investors and wealth managers offering crypto asset exposure to clients”.

Peters adds that his comes as “a decline in on-exchange reserves is reducing supply as more investors move the currency to their own wallets”.

As far as institutional interest goes, State Street Corp (NYSE: STT), among the world’s biggest asset managers, intends to join the crypto market.

According to Peters:

State Street has forged a deal to lend its trading technology to start-up Pure Digital, which aims to be the main institutional platform for bitcoin. The new trading venue will enable cash crypto asset trading for investors via their existing banking relationships, with Currenex, State Street’s platform providing the underlying technology. 

The new crypto trading venue is scheduled to go live in mid-2021.

Have you calculated your rent in Bitcoin?

I don’t know about you, but my landlords of yore were quite insistent to be paid in good old dollars. Or euros, yen, rupiah, and guilders. (I’ve moved around a bit!)

But a major global landlord is breaking the mould and declaring he’s more than happy to take Bitcoin in payment for rent.

As eToro’s Peters writes:

Rick Caruso’s retail estate company, which owns the likes of outdoor malls The Grove and The Americana, alongside luxury apartments, will now accept rent in the form of bitcoin.

Alongside investing a portion of its corporate treasury in bitcoin, Caruso has entered into a partnership with Gemini, the crypto exchange and custodian led by CEO Tyler Winklevoss.

Taking a bullish outlook, Caruso commented on the move: “It’s not about the next year or five years. We’re looking forward to the next decade.”

Ten years ago you could have bought 1 Bitcoin for US$1.

If the next decade proves to be anything like the last for the Bitcoin price gains, Caruso’s current rental payments would be worth some 60,000 times more than the equivalent rent paid in fiat currency.

A bullish outlook, indeed.