Crypto Scoop: Bitcoin, Ether reach new ATHs

Here’s what happened this week on Crypto Scoop:

• Bitcoin passes $55,000

• Ether, BNB soar to new ATHs

• Robinhood to allow cryptocurrency transactions

Bitcoin crosses the $55,000 mark

After barely crossing $50,000 on Tuesday, bitcoin rose up to over $52,000 on Wednesday and looks like it might be going steady. On Friday, the cryptocurrency’s price is shot up and peaked at $55843.77. Bitcoin’s consistent rise over the last few weeks is owing to more institutional interest with companies like Tesla purchasing $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin and MicroStrategy recently announcing that it would be raising over $600 million in debt financing to purchase even more bitcoin.

Bitcoin’s value continues to rise as its market cap hits $1 trillion and the number of companies adding it to their portfolio and accepting it increases. Among other institutions showing interest, money manager BlackRock says it has started to dabble a bit in the cryptocurrency. CEO of popular investment firm, DoubleLine Capital and a previous bitcoin unbeliever has also changed his mind and said in a tweet on Wednesday:

“I am a long term dollar bear and gold bull but have been neutral on both for over six months. Lots of liquid poured into a funnel creates a Torrent.Bitcoin may be The Stimulus Asset. Doesn’t look like gold is.”

Ether rises past $1,900, BNB gains significantly

Bitcoin is not the only one with its price skyrocketing. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency hit $1,940 on Thursday. Presently, the native ethereum network currency has a price of $1,929.46 and a market cap of over $220 billion.

Ether’s sorting price could also be as a result of heightened institutional interest as Grayscale, digital asset manager purchases $344 million worth of Ethereum in a span of two weeks. Since the company reopened its Ethereum Trust to accredited investors, it has been making large buys and purchased 52,730 ETH, the highest amount recently at $1,770 each on the 12th of February.

Binance Coin (BNB) is another cryptocurrency that is doing really well. Last Sunday, BNB was at $136 dollars as it began to gain. Owing to the rising adoption of the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) for DApps, BNB saw significant growth and went up to $348.69 on Friday. As more users choose BSC, the native token of the network will yet see more gains.

Read also: Why Ethereum may outperform Bitcoin in 2021

Robinhood to accept crypto deposits and payments

Robinhood, the popular investment app for millennials currently only allows investors to trade cryptocurrency on its platform.However, the company has announced that it will be adding an extra functionality to allow its users deposit and withdraw via the application. Robinhood made this announcement via a tweet where it also made it clear that it does not “invest in cryptocurrency or uses any customer’s cryptocurrency for its own benefit.”

The announcement came after an article on Bloomberg alleging that the largest dogecoin wallet in the world was at Robinhood.