By Kaveesha Fernando
SILICON VALLEY, America (CWBN)_ The price of a single Bitcoin is close to USD 20 000 today, and the value keeps rising. International media reports that demand for the cryptocurrency favourite surged this November, with a growing interest within the financial sector to invest in it.
Bitcoin is a type of cryptocurrency, a digital currency which circumvents the need for banks through the use of cryptography. The value of the coins are legendarily unstable; international media reports that the last time it neared USD 20 000 in 2017, its value sank by a quarter in a single day. However, the currency has done well this year; its value has more than doubled since the start of 2020.
Bitcoin’s prime spot at the top has also paved the way for what is popularly termed “Altcoins” – a cryptocurrency alternative to Bitcoins. Options such as Ether, Chainlink and XRP did spectacularly well in November – Ether and XRP both reached their highest levels in over two years, while Chainlink saw a 740% increase since the start of the year. However, the prices of the various currencies vary significantly – one Ether is almost 600 USD, while XRP is slightly over 60 cents and Chainlink is a little over 13 USD.
Some Altcoins are linked to the concept of “DeFi,” or decentralized finance, which attempts to recreate financial services such as loans without the central middlemen such as banks. However, the popularity of Altcoins seems less stable than that of Bitcoins – the price of Altcoins slumped towards the start of the final quarter of 2020.
