Bitcoin’s (BTC) uptrend gathered pace on Saturday with prices nearly testing $11,500 for the first time in over a month.
- The biggest cryptocurrency by market value rose to $11,484 at 03:10 UTC – the highest level since Sept. 2, according to CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index.
- Likely driving the move was optimism for the prospects for a U.S. stimulus package after the White House boosted its offer to Democrats on a pandemic relief package to the north of $1.8 trillion Friday.
A new round of stimulus would likely benefit BTC in at least three ways:
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- Government and central bank spending around the world in response to the coronavirus-induced slowdown, in the eyes of many, will. inevitably result in inflation, and therefore be positive for the cryptocurrency.
- Given the current correlation between equities and BTC, and that some investors treating BTC like it's a tech stock, anything that boosts equities invariably boosts BTC.
- Stimulus paychecks would give individual investors money to invest and some of those investments would likely be BTC.
Buyers stepped in around $10,500 earlier this week after payments company Square announced that it has put some 1% of its assets into bitcoin.
At press time, bitcoin is changing hands near $11,320, representing a 2% gain on the day.
Also read: Market Wrap: Bitcoin Tops $11.1K; Ether Traders Like $400 Options