The value of the most popular cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, reached the highest level this year in mid-February, which was the highest level in the last 6 months before that. In trade in that period, the price of Bitcoin reached 10,489.78 US dollars, which is the highest level since September, CoinDesk data show. Since the beginning of this year alone, Bitcoin has increased its value by 44 %.
Thus, the trend of increasing the value of Bitcoin continued in February, after January was the best for that digital currency in the last 7 years. There are several reasons for the recent growth of Bitcoin, eminent analysts believe.
Two things important for the future of Bitcoin happened nearly simultaneously: the halving of the amount of Bitcoin that can be obtained by mining, which happened in May, and the coronavirus epidemic. Both triggered the demand for “safer assets” and that’s how some investors perceive Bitcoin as well.
Generations That Have Shown the Greatest Interest in Investing
Older age groups, such as “Baby boomers” and “Generation X”, doubled their investments in Bitcoin (BTC) this year, more precisely – every month since February.
Data collected by analysts in the Mode Banking platform in London indicate a wider acceptance of Bitcoin, which has so far mainly attracted the attention of young people, by these two age groups.
For those who don’t know, “Baby boomers” include those born from the end of World War II to the mid-1960s, while “Generation X” includes those born from the mid-1960s to 1979.
The growth of investments in Bitcoin was recorded by Mode Banking in March when there was a collapse in world markets and many countries introduced restrictive measures due to the coronavirus epidemic.
How the Investment Went
This is how the investment of these two generations went: they invested 2.24 times more in Bitcoin in March than in February, 4.49 times more in April, and an incredible 8.88 times more in May. It means they continued to increase investment as the pandemic developed.
The study compared the average monthly growth of Bitcoin investments among different generations before and during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Millennials”, born between 1980 and the mid-1990s, and members of the “Generation Z”, born between the mid-1990s and early 2010s, dominated the scale of investments, which grew 118 % monthly before the epidemic and 125 % during it.
In January and February, before the epidemic, investments of older generations in Bitcoin grew almost twice as slow as investments of younger generations (61 % compared to 118 %).
How Have the Older Generations Accelerated Investment?
However, during the pandemic, “Baby boomers” and members of “Generation X” accelerated investments significantly more than “Millennials” and members of “Generation Z” (107% vs. 125%). Mode Banking believes that these are very interesting findings that could potentially reveal an unprecedented change in the way investors think today, as a result of the pandemic.
Bitcoin is becoming more popular among all age groups and is being accepted by more and more leading investors from week to week. It was expected that “Millennials” will continue to buy cryptocurrencies but the visible fact that more experienced investors are increasingly interested in Bitcoin is extremely promising for the growth of the industry.
The Good and Bad Sides of Unregulated Cryptocurrency Markets
The virtual currency Bitcoin is sold and bought online, here’s a platform that explains how to buy Bitcoin, and can also be used to pay for goods and services. Bitcoin enables direct transactions, purchase of goods and services, and exchange of money without banks and credit cards. However, it can easily be used for the illegal trade in narcotics and weapons.
The latter issue is an especially touchy matter. Because of the unregulated nature of the cryptocurrency market, it has been used by a wide variety of criminal enterprises more and more frequently. Legislators around the world continually find themselves between two fires. While they don’t want to interfere with markets that have the ability to regulate themselves, they also don’t want to willingly allow fertile ground for committing crimes.