Bitcoin’s Value Soars to All-Time High as Coinbase Enters the Stock Market

News
By Nathaniel Mott
published

"Building the cryptoeconomy"

Bitcoin cryptocurrency
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

According to Reuters the price of Bitcoin reached an all-time high today as Coinbase, a platform for buying and selling cryptocurrency, prepared for its initial public offering. The company is set to be listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange today under the “COIN” ticker symbol.

Coinbase said in the IPO announcement that it‘s “building the cryptoeconomy—a more fair, accessible, efficient, and transparent financial system enabled by crypto.” Time will tell if it will ever realize that goal. As for the company’s effect on Bitcoin’s value, well, that became obvious in the hours leading up to its listing on Nasdaq.

Bitcoin’s price reached $63,191 today, according to Coindesk, which said that is the cryptocurrency’s all-time highest value. It previously peaked at $60,743 per coin in  March before the price started to fluctuate between around $55,000 and $59,000.

Those prices make Bitcoin the most significant cryptocurrency by far in terms of market cap. The crypto market writ large had a market cap of $2 trillion earlier this month; Bitcoin represented over $1 trillion of that figure by itself. This new $63,191 peak is well above the $42,000 per coin price needed to maintain that milestone.

Leading the crypto market also means that what’s good for Bitcoin can be good for other cryptocurrencies. Coindesk’s figures indicate that Ethereum’s price has risen fairly steadily throughout the week to a current per-coin value of $2,220 despite a drop earlier in the month. Those increases could be related to Bitcoin’s rise.

That isn’t necessarily good news for enthusiasts looking for the best graphics cards, because Ethereum miners are making it even harder to find recent GPUs in stock amid the global chip shortage, but early cryptocurrency adopters might be able to cash in on Coinbase’s efforts to normalize crypto in the mainstream market.

The silver lining: Bitcoin mining is far more resource-intensive than Ethereum mining. An industrial miner recently purchased $30 million worth of Nvidia’s  Cryptocurrency Mining Processor (CMP) offerings. Anyone serious about mining Bitcoin isn’t going to be competing with enthusiasts over a single graphics card.

Nathaniel Mott
Nathaniel Mott
Freelance News & Features Writer

Nathaniel Mott is a freelance news and features writer for Tom's Hardware US, covering breaking news, security, and the silliest aspects of the tech industry.

14 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Blitz Hacker
    The author of this page apparently isn't aware, or atleast the article implied that you need 30 million of GPU's to mine BTC. No.. you use ASIC's to mine BTC.. you use GPU's to mine ETH. <ugh> C'mon tom's...
    Reply
  • JarredWaltonGPU
    Blitz Hacker said:
    The author of this page apparently isn't aware, or atleast the article implied that you need 30 million of GPU's to mine BTC. No.. you use ASIC's to mine BTC.. you use GPU's to mine ETH. <ugh> C'mon tom's...
    And you're apparently not aware that services like NiceHash mean you can easily get paid in BTC for mining on a GPU. Which means $30 million in GPUs may not only be used for direct ETH mining, and BTC prices do have an impact on the feasibility of making money via crypto mining.
    Reply
  • husker
    I must preclude this post with an appeal to please forgive my total ignorance on this subject but, hey, it never stopped me before.
    So, way back when, money was created as a physical form for a physical asset; for example a silver or gold coin. Then coins became a physical yet indirect representation of a physical asset (lead coin representing a share of gold). Then the physical asset backing money was removed (no more gold or silver backed currency) and we had a physical yet indirect representation of an indirect asset which amounts to a promise to make good on the money. Then with computers the physical money went away and we just had an abstract concept which represented the promise to make good on that indirect asset. Now with cryptocurrency, we have a totally abstract concept which represents the totally abstract value of a totally abstract asset. Question: How can this be heading in a good direction?
    Reply
  • JarredWaltonGPU
    husker said:
    I must preclude this post with an appeal to please forgive my total ignorance on this subject but, hey, it never stopped me before.
    So, way back when, money was created as a physical form for a physical asset; for example a silver or gold coin. Then coins became a physical yet indirect representation of a physical asset (lead coin representing a share of gold). Then the physical asset backing money was removed (no more gold or silver backed currency) and we had a physical yet indirect representation of an indirect asset which amounts to a promise to make good on the money. Then with computers the physical money went away and we just had an abstract concept which represented the promise to make good on that indirect asset. Now with cryptocurrency, we have a totally abstract concept which represents the totally abstract value of a totally abstract asset. Question: How can this be heading in a good direction?
    I won't try to address the other aspects, but the backing of cryptocurrencies is basically the cryptography and algorithms that we now trust, in lieu of trusting the governments and banks. Is that better, or worse? I don't have an answer that would satisfy everyone, that's all I know.
    Reply
  • Soaptrail
    husker said:
    I must preclude this post with an appeal to please forgive my total ignorance on this subject but, hey, it never stopped me before.
    So, way back when, money was created as a physical form for a physical asset; for example a silver or gold coin. Then coins became a physical yet indirect representation of a physical asset (lead coin representing a share of gold). Then the physical asset backing money was removed (no more gold or silver backed currency) and we had a physical yet indirect representation of an indirect asset which amounts to a promise to make good on the money. Then with computers the physical money went away and we just had an abstract concept which represented the promise to make good on that indirect asset. Now with cryptocurrency, we have a totally abstract concept which represents the totally abstract value of a totally abstract asset. Question: How can this be heading in a good direction?

    Similar to this podcast about the US government borrowing too much money and maybe it does not matter anymore. https://www.npr.org/2021/02/23/970595276/bond-voyage
    Reply
  • husker
    If I understand correctly then, public confidence in the asset backing is the asset backing. Cryptocurrency just seems shakier because it is new and unfamiliar, but not any less "real" than what traditional currencies have devolved into.
    Reply
  • average joe
    You're Trusting the Algorithms and encryption of a total stranger from a foreign country who is not accountable to you or the laws of your country over you're own government because Reddit told you too. It's compelling because the stories of rags to riches and the actually money you see piling up in your accounts. Like any Ponzi scheme it pays out to the early adopter to draw in more patsys. This could be different because of the Wall Street backing but it was completely criminal in inception and has been traced as a way to fund ISIS and Drug Cartels, Child Trafficking and very little positive. It's also completely traceable like you had a tracking device on every dollar bill in your pocket and it can be tracked by all governments not just the one you live under.
    Reply
  • average joe
    That being said, you can make money right now by playing the game and you might lose money if you do not. My friends been mining since February and has mined about 120 dollars to date. If Bit Coin goes to 200k that's a 1,000 dollars. I think Intel will will stop the insanity but it's going to take a couple years for thier new Fabs in Arizona to come online. Then they'll be cranking out minig cards in quantities AMD and Nvidia can only dream of and prices will drop to MSRP.
    Reply
  • AtrociKitty
    husker said:
    Cryptocurrency just seems shakier because it is new and unfamiliar, but not any less "real" than what traditional currencies have devolved into.
    The uncertain value makes it a poor currency. It's difficult to understand the price of goods or labor represented in BTC because the price is always changing. It's also an uncertain store of value, because your savings can jump up and down with the market. Add to this the inconvenience of using BTC as a payment method (it takes a long time for a transaction to clear with greater fees), and you get a purely speculative asset.

    It's possible a cryptocurrency will be a feasible replacement for the dollar, but it won't be bitcoin.
    Reply
  • Soaptrail
    AtrociKitty said:
    The uncertain value makes it a poor currency. It's difficult to understand the price of goods or labor represented in BTC because the price is always changing. It's also an uncertain store of value, because your savings can jump up and down with the market. Add to this the inconvenience of using BTC as a payment method (it takes a long time for a transaction to clear with greater fees), and you get a purely speculative asset.

    It's possible a cryptocurrency will be a feasible replacement for the dollar, but it won't be bitcoin.
    You can use stable coins like DAI if you want something that is tied to currencies. DAI is pegged to the dollar and does not fluctuate more than a penny.

    I don't see crypto currency any worse than stocks. Sure I "own" a part of a company but they still are going to do what they want and overpay their CEO at the expense of the lowest paid workers but that is a tangent. I am not going to bother mining either, I have been buying them. I wish i would have bought a lot more last summer because all but one of my coins have gained value.
    Reply