Bitcoin Breaks $8,000 Price Barrier

“We’ve been in depressed levels for the last six months, so it’s really one way from here, which is up,” said Timothy Tam, chief executive officer with CoinFi, a cryptocurrency data analysis company, in a phone interview from Hong Kong. “The timing is always difficult to predict but I think we’re at the start of a secular bull market.”

Other positive news fueling the rally is renewed optimism after Bitmain, a China cryptocurrency mining rig maker, accomplished another investor funding round,. The company was reported by Chinese financial news outlet Caixin to have raised $300 million to $400 million at a valuation of about $12 billion.

In addition, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is mulling over whether to approve a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF)–a request filed through the Chicago Board of Exchange (CBOE) by investment firm VanEck and blockchain platform SolidX. An approval of a Bitcoin ETF would allow reticent investors to purchase the cryptocurrency without using an exchange that lacks government oversight and regulation.

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