The age of crypto is upon us and it isn’t just in the resurgence of bitcoin’s price back above $50,000 after a protracted period of listlessness.
At last check, bitcoin
BTCUSD,
+2.71%
was changing hands at above $54,000 on Thursday, scaling a wall of worry for digital assets after hitting a summer intraday low around $29,000 on June 22 undermined by fresh crackdowns in China.
However, prices have recovered and bitcoin’s market value is back at $1 trillion, making it the most highly valued crypto, according to CoinMarketCap.com. The world’s No. 2 crypto by market value, Ether
ETHUSD,
+2.12%
on the Ethereum blockchain, meanwhile, was at nearly $3,600 on Thursday.
The moves over the past several months highlight the promise and peril of crypto, which is increasingly moving closer to the mainstream adoption but not without dramatic — and sometimes seemingly nonsensical — swings in the market. El Salvador became the world’s largest currency testing ground after adopting bitcoin as legal tender a month ago.
Twitter Inc.
TWTR,
-0.45%
is offering bitcoin tipping, Visa
V,
-0.12%
is dabbling in nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, and decentralized finance, or DeFi, looks set to battle traditional exchanges, or “boil an ocean,” as Galaxy Digital’s
GLXY,
+0.17%
Michael Novogratz once told MarketWatch.
Barron’s and MarketWatch journalists will convene top specialists in crypto and other financial pros to make sense of it all and identify the opportunities and risks that lie ahead for investors.
We’ll continue to explore whether and how investors should think about digital tokens in a two-day event to be held Oct. 27 and Nov. 4 starting at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. Sign up now.
Among a number of superstars in the field, subscribers will hear from MicroStrategy
MSTR,
+2.31%
CEO and Chairman Michael Saylor, Commissioner Hester M. Peirce, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and Commissioner Dawn DeBerry Stump at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as well as Sam Bankman-Fried. founder and CEO at exchange FTX.
The sessions will be moderated by reporters and editors from MarketWatch and Barron’s, with the hope of helping readers navigate the rapidly evolving digital landscape.
Themes include: a market check up, an exploration into DeFi and how regulation is shaping and informing the crypto landscape.
