Bitcoin nears $50,000 on wider acceptance by investors, financial institutions

“BNY Mellon is proud to be the first global bank to announce plans to provide an integrated service for digital assets,” Roman Regelman, CEO of asset servicing and head of digital at BNY Mellon, said in a statement last Thursday.

Then on Friday, Canada's Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) approved the launch of Purpose Bitcoin ETF, Toronto-based asset management company Purpose Investments Inc said in a statement. The OSC further confirmed it had cleared the launch of the world's first bitcoin exchange-traded fund, in a statement to Reuters.

Meanwhile, media reports also suggested that Twitter is thinking about whether to hold bitcoin on its balance sheet. It has, however, not made any changes yet. In an interview with CNBC, Twitter's chief financial officer, Ned Segal said Twitter had considered how it might pay vendors or employees using bitcoin, should they ask to transact using the virtual currency.

Investors have also turned in favour of the cryptocurrency. Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy at Jefferies in his weekly note GREED & fear also stated that he remains bullish on bitcoin.

He advises investors to use any dip to buy digital currency. In December 2020, he decreased some exposure to gold in favour of bitcoin.

“GREED & fear remains extremely bullish on Bitcoin and advises those who are not invested to take advantage of any pullbacks. Remember that institutional ownership of Bitcoin has only just begun,” Wood said in his note.

According to Morgan Stanley's Chief Global Strategist, Ruchir Sharma, Bitcoin was not only the hottest investment of 2020, but it was also the hottest investment of the decade ending in 2020, up more than 200 percent a year on average.