What Was The Highest Bitcoin Price in History?

If you take a look at our overview of Bitcoin price history, you’ll see how tumultuous a path Bitcoin (BTC) has treaded ever since its inception in January of 2009.

It has had highs and lows but it has carved a niche for itself in the hearts of crypto enthusiasts ever since it appeared on the scene in the wake of the crisis that had beset the traditional economy.

Let’s have a look at what has been the highest Bitcoin price since 2008 and what factors actually led to that dream run.

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When Did Bitcoin Peak The Highest?

After a year of heartening leaps and a long bullish summer that set the stage for a high, Bitcoin reached its highest price in the December of last year.

December 2017 will perhaps always be remembered as a time when cryptocurrencies finally came to their own, with prices shooting through the roof and investor optimism being enhanced at every turn.

It was crypto’s turn in the sun and the most popular cryptocurrency of all, Bitcoin, rode the wave to an all-time high of $19,783.21 on the 17th of that month.

What Caused the Peak?

The Bitcoin dream run was triggered by a motley mix of factors that, in hindsight, seem to have been destined to handhold BTC to its place under the sun. The year 2017 was peppered with developments that would go on to influence Bitcoin’s insane price rise.

Let’s have a look at all the developments that made Bitcoin an extremely valuable asset to have invested in.

1. Technological Improvement-Lightning Network Beta Testing:

December of 2017 saw Bitcoin carry out a beta test for the new Lightning Network Protocol, an overlay network that was expected to speed up transactions and boost efficiency.

Making peer-to-peer micropayments possible, the Lightning Network was presented as a way to deal with Bitcoin’s long-standing scalability issue. The promise of a new technological improvement helped drive up the price of Bitcoin.

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2. Technological Improvement in the Form of SegWit Update:

The implementation of the Segregated Witness Update in 2017 helped make the Bitcoin blockchain much more efficient than it already was and helped drive user adoption, which in turn promoted a price rise because of an increase in perceived value.

3. Futures Trading Greenlighted:

In December itself the crypto world met with a pleasant surprise when the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) of America green-lighted a couple of exchanges to allow BTC futures trading.

The CME group and CBOE were expected to follow suit, according to credible news reports and rumours were rife that even New York’s NASDAQ was mulling over a similar move. This naturally enhanced existing bullish sentiments.

4. Increased Interest in cryptocurrencies:

If you are to search for “Bitcoin” in the Google Trends data, you’d find that the interest in this crypto currency had peaked around December 2017, going up to an extremely high level before petering out again since the beginning of this year.

Why does the price of Bitcoin move so much?, you might ask. Well there are a myriad reasons for such volatility but it seems in 2017 that only the positive factors were at work.

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5. Experts’ Predictions of A Bull Run:

Crypto market is usually influenced greatly by opinions of experts and commentators as people’s optimism or fear is shaped by such opinions. In 2017, notable commentators such as Sheba Jafari of Goldman Sachs predicted that cryptocurrencies would have a bullish run, going above the $4000 mark. Eventually, Bitcoin topped those predictions and achieved much more.

Although Bitcoin’s prices have since fallen, it still remains a preferred investment for many.

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