Bitcoin has been on a tear over the last few months and is now trading at its highest levels since December 2017. The cryptocurrency hit $18,000 on Monday for the first time in more than two years, according to data from the industry website Coindesk. The bitcoin price jumped 3 percent on Monday morning after news broke that the US producer price index (PPI) report showed inflation remained subdued despite higher retail prices for some goods such as electronics and clothing during February.
The US producer price index (PPI) report, which came in just worse than expected, has added to the bearish sentiment surrounding the US dollar.
The report showed that producer prices rose 1.5% on an annualized basis in November, below expectations for a 2% increase. The headline PPI fell 0.1%, which was also lower than estimates of 0.2%.
Bitcoin Going Up
The US dollar fell sharply after the release of this data and remains lower versus Bitcoin as well as other fiat currencies like EUR/USD and GBP/USD.
Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency on the planet and has been around since 2009. It is a decentralized digital currency that not only has a finite supply of 21 million coins, but it isn’t controlled by any government or central bank.
Bitcoin’s value skyrocketed past $11,000 in 2017 and peaked at $19,000 before beginning to fall back down again. In January 2018, Bitcoin hit its lowest value of $3,500 since December 2017 when it first started falling from its all-time high of around $19k.
The last few months have been pretty tumultuous for Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market as a whole. We saw Bitcoin drop from $10,000 to $3,500 in just seven weeks, but since then it has recovered to over $7,000 with no signs of stopping anytime soon. This rally is being fueled by the ongoing trade war between China and America as well as investors seeking higher returns from riskier assets such as cryptocurrencies.
