Bitcoin, the world’s most well known digital currency, has crossed the $9,000 mark for the first time in over a year, according to a report by CNBC.
The coin was buoyed by the news that Facebook will potentially launch a cryptocurrency of its own. Bitcoin hit a high of $9,381.82 in the past 24 hours, according to a price index kept by CoinDesk.
Bitcoin hasn’t been as high as $9,000 since May of 2018, and the cryptocurrency is now up 14 percent since January. On the latest look on Monday (June 17), it was at $9,157.59.
There are reports that say Facebook’s cryptocurrency launch could happen as soon as Tuesday (June 18). There’s even talk that some employees of the social media giant will be able to get their salaries in the new cryptocurrency.
Analysts say that the participation of companies like Facebook and AT&T lends the crypto space an air of legitimacy that helps to distance it from views that it’s only used for criminal activity, or untrusted trading. As for AT&T, it recently partnered with BitPay to begin accepting crypto payments.
The cryptocurrency space has turned around significantly this year. Last year saw stunning losses in value at over 70 percent. It wasn’t the only cryptocurrency to stumble, either. Others have also risen recently, going up by more than double — and with XRP up 23 percent year to date.
Experts at RBC Capital Markets said that Facebook’s new currency “may prove to be one of the most important initiatives in the history of the company,” and that it will give the company a real shot to attract greater engagement and revenue. Facebook will probably release a white paper on June 18 with an explanation of the social media giant’s plans for its crypto, or token. RBC plans to study the paper so it can “help investors analyze the underlying crypto economics of the token.”