December 2020, has been a wild ride for anyone invested in, or even just watching, the bitcoin market. The world’s most valuable virtual currency in December traded at more than $23,000.
When the U.S. first began grappling with Covid-19 in early March, Bitcoin was below $4,000. For owners or sellers, it’s a gut-twisting source of gains and losses. For those (like me) on the sidelines, it’s an entertaining market show, with tinges of jealousy and dizziness.
Despite that tremendous bitcoin price fluctuation in a generally upward direction, 2020 was also a year of relative maturity for a currency that, after all, has only been trading for a decade. Bitcoin’s use in everyday life has always had a chicken-egg problem: Very few use or accept it because … for one thing, very few use or accept it.
But 2020 saw a striking evolution in bitcoin adaptation. Prominent fintech companies, from Square’s investment of $50 million in bitcoin to PayPal allowing its users to buy and sell bitcoin, gave it a stamp of approval.
2021, we’ll likely see an extension of this mainstream embrace. Look for at least one major U.S. or European bank to announce some kind of system where they either enable bitcoin purchases or agree to hold digital assets for their clients.
