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Bitcoin price rebounds as Consensus conference boosts cryptocurrency value

Bitcoin has already hit its lowest price of the year, according to one analyst

Anthony Cuthbertson
Tuesday 15 May 2018 13:47 BST
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What is Bitcoin and why is its price so high?

Bitcoin has recovered from its recent price slump, mirroring an annual trend that sees the cryptocurrency surge in value following a major conference in May.

The price of bitcoin has risen by 5 per cent in the 24 hours since the Consensus conference kicked off in New York, as the fourth annual blockchain technology summit once again provided a boost to the volatile cryptocurrency.

Analysts predicted the price rally earlier this week, after bitcoin had fallen to a three-week low.

“We expect the Consensus rally to be even larger than past years,” Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, said in a note to clients ahead of the conference.

The price of bitcoin has rallied this week, as the world's most valuable cryptocurrency continues its recovery from its worst ever start to a year

Bitcoin has already hit its lowest price point of the year, according to Mr Lee, having fallen to around $6,500 in early February.

“In general, we see 2018 being a strong year, but we see the larger and more established blockchains growing in dominance in 2018,” the research note said, highlighting ethereum as one of the other cryptocurrencies set to benefit.

“Bottom line: We expect bitcoin and cryptocurrencies to behave similarly to prior years and rally during Consensus.”

The turn-around in fortunes has been reflected across cryptocurrency markets, with ethereum, bitcoin cash and ripple all seeing significant gains since early April.

The latest price is still only just over half of the highs bitcoin reached in late 2017, when it peaked close to $20,000.

Since then, bitcoin has suffered from its worst ever start to a year — fitting with some analyst theories that the world's most valuable cryptocurrency was experiencing a bubble.

The rapid decline was followed by a relative period of stability that many cryptocurrency experts predicted would precede more gains.

How high could the price of bitcoin go?

Cryptocurrency analysts vary dramatically in their predictions for bitcoin's price.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin said in February that cryptocurrencies "could drop to near-zero at any time," telling his Twitter followers to not put in more money than they can afford to lose. Since then, ethereum's price has fluctuated between $950 and $350 and currently hovers around $800.

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