The price of Bitcoin (BTC) rose on March 19 beyond the $28,000 zone, marking a 16% increase in value over the past 7 days, according to Cointelegraph’s MarketPro data.
At the time of writing, the major cryptocurrency is trading at $28,063, up 2.4% over the past 24 hours. The price reached $28,459 at its highest point during the day, before trading at $26,877 at its lowest point.
Overall this week, Bitcoin has gained over 37% against the US dollar. Bitcoin’s market capitalization will increase to $194 billion in 2023, representing a 66% year-on-year gain, outperforming Wall Street stocks mainly as fears of a global banking crisis rise. Bitcoin is up about 65% against the S&P 500’s 2.5% gain and the Nasdaq’s 15% decline in 2023.
United States bank valuations have fallen amid persistent fears surrounding regional banks in the country following developments last week, including the closure of Silvergate, followed by regulators taking over Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank.
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In Europe, Credit Suisse was bought by UBS Group for almost $2 billion earlier as part of an emergency plan led by the Swiss authorities to maintain the country’s financial stability. As part of the agreement, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) committed to provide more than $100 billion in liquidity lines to USB.
The $2 billion deal represents a steep discount to Credit Suisse’s March 17 market price of nearly $8 billion, according to data from Companies Market Cap.
The coming global banking crisis could take Bitcoin to $1 million in less than 90 days, former Coinbase chief technology officer Balaji Srinivasan said on Twitter. According to Srinivasan’s forecast, the US banking crisis will trigger a deflation of the American dollar and, thus, to a hyperinflation scenario that leads to a Bitcoin price of $1 million. Srinivasan bet $2 million on Twitter in view of the future of the US economy, as well as the potential impact on the value of Bitcoin.