Bitcoin price hits $7,545: what’s going on and what crypto influencers are saying

• Evidence of wider adoption by institutional players is driving the coins higher.
• Roubini thinks it’s manipulation.
• McAfee prefers to wait and see.

Bitcoin, the largest digital currency by market value, is changing hands at $7,430, 10% higher on a daily basis. The coin hit $7,545 during early Asian hours amid strong crypto rally triggered late on Tuesday. Bitcoin’s market value reached $127B and average daily trading volumes – $6B.

What’s motivating the bulls?

A spectacular recovery on the cryptocurrency market has been engineered by a combination of factors that prove strong institutional interest to this class of assets. A wide range of companies – from large hedge funds and exchanges to tech giants – announce their involvement in cryptos and start exploring the benefits of new technologies.  

BlackRock is experimenting with digital assets

IBM gets involved with cryptocurrencies

CBOE applies for Bitcoin ETF and get support from traders

What the influencers say

Apart from ecstatic euphoria among crypto speculators and short-term traders, some critical views are aired by both hard core crypto critics and most ardent supporters.

Nouriel Roubini believes that Bitcoin is a bubble and never misses a chance to criticize it. He thinks, the upside is engineered by price manipulations

“Bitcoin literally spiking up by almost 10% in about 30 minutes today based on no news. So only explanation: price manipulation. Since Tether recently printed another $200 million of fake money & since research proves Tether used to manipulate BTC, manipulation is at work again.”

John McAfee, a famous crypto enthusiast and a charismatic opinion leader, seems to be cautiously optimistic at this stage:

“Bitcoin – $1,000 increase in one week. Is this the bull market? I have no clue. 10 such increases in succession and I will consider it Bull. In the meantime, know this: The Bull Market IS coming. And when it does, it will make the eruption of Krakatoa seem like a Meerkat’s burp,” he tweeted.