By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – Bitcoin surged to all-time highs Wednesday, riding the cryptocurrency optimism ahead of the Coinbase direct listing, stoking bullish calls from experts who suggest the fear of missing out, or FOMO, will spark the popular crypto's next run higher.
BTC/USD rose 5% to $63,076.0, and had hit a record of $63,476.
"Higher prices will force those firms still on the sidelines into the market. The Nasdaq may be wobbling as it focuses on rising yields but new on-ramps into Bitcoin will only exacerbate the existing supply-demand imbalance and will drive the market cap higher, well beyond all current market expectations," said Seamus Donoghue, VP of Strategic Alliances at Metaco, an digital asset ecosystem infrastructure provider.
The latest run higher in Bitcoin is hardly surprising against the backdrop of limited supply of bitcoin, the recent wobble in tech and direct listing of Coinbase, set for Wednesday, under the ticker "Coin."
"In a week in which crypto giant Coinbase is expected to be valued at as much as $90B in its public listing, it is hardly a surprise that Bitcoin price has broken $60,000,"
Others agree, and point to the direct listing of Coinbase as another endorsement of bitcoin and the wider cryptocurrency ecosystem.
"Expectations around the COIN debut are high, with some predictions placing the value over $100 billion. Cryptocurrency investors see the listing as a major milestone in the space, following years of skepticism from investors over the viability of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin," DA Davidson said in a note.
Bitcoin is up about 118% since the start of the year, driven by increased participation from Wall Street as the popular cryptocurrency continued to strengthen its reputation as a store or value, or "digital gold."
Major banks including Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) have made a foray into the crypto the market, with the latter recently teaming up with NYDIG and Galaxy digital to offer their high-net worth clients access to bitcoin.
"While interest in Bitcoin as a means of payment is undoubtedly accelerating and driving market interest, the dominant narrative continues to be in Bitcoin as digital gold, with the expectation that price will continue to rise," Donoghue said.
The record high for the bitcoin shows no signs of the stopping as recent on-chain data point to robust growth of new bitcion 'hodlers,' and further signs that suggest long-term demand shows no sign of abating.