After rallying 80% in two months, Bitcoin (BTC) is recapturing media interest from the top end of town, with The Wall Street Journal discussing the cryptocurrency’s adoption among institutional investors on the site’s home page on Nov. 23.
The report notes that Bitcoin has recently found support from “Wall Street billionaires” Paul Tudor Jones and Stanley Druckenmiller, alongside other public figures including a sports radio host.
WSJ’s coverage comes following a lull in Bitcoin’s presence in mainstream outlets, despite the cryptocurrency surging to test rarely seen prices while setting new records for market capitalization.
In addition to significant investments from hedge fund managers and Grayscale Investments, WSJ emphasizes increasing demand from retail investors who can now access crypto assets through familiar financial service companies.
The report notes that Bitcoin’s volume on Square’s Cash App was $1.6 billion during the third quarter of 2020, compared to $555 million for the entirety of 2019. Trade activity on U.S.-based exchange ItBit also surged after it was revealed that PayPal’s Bitcoin trading services would be executed through the platform.
On the same day, PayPal CEO Dan Shulman predicted during an appearance on CNBC that increasing everyday adoption of Bitcoin will see crypto assets “move from being less of just an asset class and more into a currency,” adding:
“As paper money slowly dissipates and disappears from how people are using transactions, central banks especially on the retail side will need to replace paper money with forms of digital fiat currency.”