Investing.com - Bitcoin extended its rally on Thursday in Asia, hitting a one-and-a-half year high.
Bitcoin hit an 18-month high of $13,666.02 overnight and was at $13,007.1 by 12:23 AM ET (04:23 GMT), up 5.5% for the day. The coin has soared more than 260% so far this year.
Analysts have attributed the recent gains in Bitcoin to Facebook’s plan to launch its own cryptocurrency “Libra” as traders hope the news could push cryptocurrencies into the mainstream.
Analysts also pointed to weakness in the greenback amid expectations the Federal Reserve will cut rates in July as another tailwind that has spurred the recent rally.
Others believe a group of large and aggressive buyers was the reason behind the rally.
“The cause is simple: aggressive buyers crossed the bid-ask spread and overpowered both passive and aggressive sellers. Based on price action, there were aggressive buyers with deep pockets in action last night. There was no specific trigger known to anyone outside of them,” said Alex Krüger, an economist who focuses primarily on cryptocurrencies, in a tweet.
Prices of other major currencies were mixed today. Ethereum gained 1.8%, while XRP and Litecoin fell 3.6% and 4.5% respectively.