I have to admit, when crypto pundits were forecasting the Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) price was headed north of US$100,000 a few years ago I thought that was rather pie in the sky.
Today, my pie-in-the-sky dismissal has turned into humble pie as the world's original and biggest cryptocurrency blasted through that milestone overnight to set a new all-time high of US$103,900.
While longer-term buy-and-hold investors have certainly done well, the gains haven't come without plenty of the volatility we've come to expect in crypto markets. In the past 24 hours alone, the Bitcoin price traded as low as US$91,999 and as high as the new overnight record US$103,900.
That's quite a range.
At the time of writing on Friday, BTC has dipped to US$98,578. Which means it still would have made it an excellent Christmas present last year, when it was trading for just US$40,075 on 25 December.
At the current price, Bitcoin has a total market valuation of US$1.95 trillion (AU$2.95 trillion). So even Elon Musk no longer has enough money to buy them all, though the world's richest man has long been a proponent of cryptocurrencies.
What are the insiders saying about the milestone Bitcoin price?
Commenting on the Bitcoin price smashing through the US$100,000 mark, IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said (quoted by The Australian):
We noted that after yesterday's burst above $100K, there had been very little follow-through buying. We also highlighted signs of exhaustion and bearish divergence, which are excellent indicators of a short-term high.
Addressing the volatile price action, Sycamore added, "This spike in volatility over the last 24 hours has the hallmarks of a classic blow-off top. While we don't see this as the end of the Bitcoin bull run, it does signal we are entering a consolidation phase in the days/weeks ahead."
Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy added (quoted by Bloomberg), "We are witnessing a paradigm shift. After four years of political purgatory, Bitcoin and the entire digital-asset ecosystem are on the brink of entering the financial mainstream."
Indeed, it was only back on 5 November that the Bitcoin price stood at US$67,811.
As you're likely aware, that date marked the US presidential election. And it saw Donald Trump, a big advocate of cryptocurrencies, sweep back into office.
According to Novogratz:
Over the long term, I'm bullish. It won't be a straight line up, and investors should always consider taking gains off the table. But, with a pro-crypto administration about to take charge in the US, it'll be hard for the rest of the world not to take notice.
Atop some strong tailwinds from the incoming Trump administration, the Bitcoin price has also been getting added support from a range of spot Bitcoin ETFs launched in the United States.
Yi He, co-founder of Binance, credited a decade of ongoing efforts from crypto believers for pushing Bitcoin to the US$100,000 mark.
"The significance of Bitcoin's price breaking through the $100,000 milestone lies in providing the public with a powerful memory point, showing that those unbelievable things are really happening," He said.
He added, "The small, persistent efforts accumulated day-by-day over the past decade by members of the crypto community will ultimately converge into this historic scene."
