The Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) price is back above the psychologically important US$100,000 mark (AU$146,280).
The world's original and biggest cryptocurrency set a new all-time high of US$103,900 overnight last week Thursday.
As we noted at the time, Bitcoin has been benefiting in part from greater mainstream acceptance, spurred by the launch of several spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States. (Spot ETFs are intended to closely track the current price of their underlying assets.)
BTC has also been a huge beneficiary of the November US election results.
While the outgoing Joe Biden administration has serious concerns about cryptocurrencies, the incoming Donald Trump administration has promised to be much more crypto-friendly.
Indeed, on 5 November, before the US presidential election results were in, the token was trading for a 'mere' US$67,811.
As for the most recent moves, the Bitcoin price dipped below US$95,100 on Wednesday and was trading for US$99,340 in the early dawn hours today.
At the time of writing, BTC is back up to US$100,296.
That gives the world's top crypto a total market valuation of US$1.98 trillion.
And as various media outlets are reporting today, S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) financial services company AMP Ltd (ASX: AMP) has taken the plunge, or at least is dipping its toes, into the leading cryptocurrency.
AMP banking on a rising Bitcoin price
On Wednesday, Stephen Flegg, AMP senior portfolio manager, revealed AMP's foray into cryptos on LinkedIn.
Citing the "barnstorming year" for the Bitcoin price, Flegg said, "We generally thought that even though crypto is risky, new and not yet fully proven, that it had become too big, and its potential too great to continue to ignore."
AMP is the first major Aussie super fund to have invested directly in cryptos.
As The Australian Financial Review reports, AMP chief investment officer Anna Shelley confirmed that the company bought around AU$27 million worth of Bitcoin in May. At the time, the Bitcoin price was trading between US$60,000 and US$70,000.
Commenting on AMP's groundbreaking Bitcoin investment, University of New South Wales economics professor Richard Holden said (quoted by the AFR):
When president-elect Donald Trump says it is a legitimate asset class, it's not going to go anywhere soon and it's only going to grow.
In that context, it is understandable that a fund manager would want to have a moderate level of exposure. I do, however, worry about mum and dad investors giving over large portions of their retirement or other savings outside the professionally managed super environment.
Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) chief economist Luci Ellis sounded a more cautious note.
According to Ellis:
It doesn't have a stable value, you can't really use it for payments except in very rare circumstances, and it doesn't have a running yield. It's not like equities that entitle you to a flow of dividends, or a bond that entitles you to a flow of interest payments.
The Bitcoin price is up 136% in 2024.
