Bitcoin climbs above $12000 worrying regulators

7 years ago - Published in Finance, Fintech Land, Technical Analysis

The price of bitcoin has risen above $12,000 for the first time. According to CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index (BPI), the price of the world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is trading at $12,201.67. This represents a gain of just over $500 since the day's open and a gain of more than 4 percent overall. With Wednesday morning's spike, the cryptocurrency now has a total market value of about $203 billion, more than twice Goldman Sachs' market cap.

As previously reported, markets had been eyeing the $12,000 earlier today when the price of bitcoin traded between $11,400 and $11,800.

And, as might be expected, exchanges in South Korea – which were the first to cross the $10,000 line late last month – are trading above $14,000, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

For one, Stephen Roach, Yale University senior fellow and the former Asia chairman and chief economist at investment bank Morgan Stanley, told CNBC on Tuesday that he was deeply skeptical of investing in bitcoin.

"This is a toxic concept for investors," Roach, described by Yale as one of Wall Street's most influential economists, told CNBC. "This is a dangerous speculative bubble by any shadow or stretch of the imagination."

"I've never seen a chart of a security where the price really has a vertical pattern to it. And bitcoin is the most vertical of any pattern I've ever seen in my career," he added.

Speaking on CNBC's "Power Lunch, Galaxy Investment Partners CEO Michael Novogratz said Tuesday that bitcoin will be difficult for governments to crack down on. "I've got concern that if price movements go higher we're going to get more regulation," Novogratz said. But "I think it's hard to shut down. … I don't think that's a probability."

"One of the big risks out there right now is that prices are moving so fast that regulators are going to get nervous," he added. "I could legitimately see bitcoin go $13,000, $14,000, $20,000, $25,000 and see somebody balk." He pointed out that right now most regulators, including those in the U.S., are working with the digital currency system and are "intrigued" by it.