Bitcoin Recovery Continues After Punishing January Sell Offs
It appears that the worst has passed for Bitcoin. After losing over half its value at the start of the year, the cryptocurrency appears to be in the midst of a recovery, surging over 40 percent over the past few days.
The digital currency closed Feb. 8 with a 10.6 percent increase, trading at $8,616.81 at 12:50 UTC before dipping to below $8,000 as of writing. While still volatile, the price of the cryptocurrency has reversed its freefall which started after reaching its peak late last year where it traded at above $19,000.
The recovery began after promising reports claimed that the cryptocurrency market as a whole could reach over $1 trillion in market capitalization within the year. Bitcoin, in particular, could potentially reach a value of $50,000 or higher due in part to new technology that will help facilitate its transactions.
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The so-called "Lightning Network," as the name suggests, would boost the very slow transaction speeds using the cryptocurrency. This would solve the main issue many merchants have with Bitcoin and likely reinstate the currency as a mode of payment in their stores.
But Bitcoin is not the only digital currency enjoying this new bullish outlook on the market. Ether, the coin used by the Ethereum network, also saw a rise in value up by 8.3 percent. Litecoin rose 6.7% to $148.11, and Ripple gained 7.4% to 77 cents, CoinDesk prices indicated. However, it was Bitcoin Cash that won the day rising by as much as 28% to trade above $1,250 at the end of the trading day.
Most other cryptocurrencies are trading up right now after suffering massive losses at the onset of the year. While it's still too early to say if another meteoric rise in prices is on the horizon, stopping the plunge in value appears to be enough for most investors, at least for now.
