As the cryptocurrency continues to recover after a severe slump, Bitcoin’s price has risen to above $50,000 (£36.480)
After a crackdown by China and Elon Musk’s decision not to accept it for payment, the coin plummeted sharply in May.
Investor sentiment is improving as mainstream financial institutions begin to use digital currency.
Bitcoin has risen 81% in value since January when it traded at $27,700.
It climbed nearly 3% to $50.266.90 Monday while Ether, another digital coin popular, was up more than 4% at $3.367.51.
It came as PayPal said it would allow customers in the UK to buy, sell and hold Bitcoin and other digital currencies as it expands its crypto services outside of the US for the first time.
The US financial company is the largest to offer cryptocurrency access with over 403 million accounts worldwide.
CMC Markets’ Michael Hewson stated that “This seems to be another example of a worldwide company legitimizing the use of cryptocurrency as it becomes more mainstream.”
Analysts believe that Bitcoin has been supported by the US Federal Reserve, which continues to support the US economy. It keeps interest rates at record lows, making riskier assets attractive to investors.
Markets.com’s Neil Wison stated that Bitcoin’s rebound shows no signs of cooling, although he expects to see some “pullback in the near term.”
However, Wedbush Securities’ Dan Ives stated that Bitcoin remains “a highly volatile digital cryptocurrency”, despite increasing investor optimism.
