[ad_1]
SINGAPORE: Bitcoin fell back from an all-time high on Monday (Feb 15) and other cryptocurrencies fell as investors took profit from a record rally that had pushed Bitcoin close to $ 50,000.
Bitcoin fell as much as 5.6 percent to $ 45,914 in Asian trading hours after posting a record high of $ 49,714.66 on Sunday, while rival crypto Ethereum slipped more than 8 percent.
Once out of finance, bitcoin is rapidly gaining legitimacy as an asset class and has risen 20 percent in the week since electric car maker Tesla announced it had $ 1.5 billion in bitcoin and would accept the currency as payment.
It is up more than 60 percent so far this year and has gained more than 1,100 percent since hitting a one-year low last March.
“There is this unadulterated wave of big players (buying) that has kept increasing the price,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Melbourne brokerage Pepperstone. “We could be seeing one or two big funds just cashing in,” he said.
“The big question is: OK, you want to buy the pullback, but how big is the pullback we’re talking about?”
In addition to the Tesla investment, Bank of NY Mellon said last week that it formed a new unit to help clients own and trade digital assets.
Bloomberg reported Saturday that Morgan Stanley’s investment arm is weighing a bet on bitcoin.
