For the first time ever, Bitcoin price has surpassed $20,000 USD after several months of steady growth.

Cryptocurrency investors and analysts are looking at this rally with the long-term bullish sentiment, with more history, data and intrigue driving more healthy adoption to the market. Experts suggest that this rally is different to 2017’s bull run given the shift from retail investors to stronger attention coming from institutional investment firms. Moreover, there is a greater perception now than in 2017 that Bitcoin is a store of value, rather than a quick turnaround profit opportunity.

Increased institutional interest driving Bitcoin price up

Despite whales selling-off throughout the year, with some points of volatility and bearish dips, the market has regained after corrections. As institutional firms continue to buy Bitcoin, other investors seem to be turning their attention to the token and the rise of wallet addresses stands to attest.

With Grayscale buying significant amounts of Bitcoin and consistently adding to its assets-under-management, the cryptocurrency responded accordingly, gaining steadily as the demand has increased.

The perception of Bitcoin has shifted

More than before, Bitcoin is now seen as a valuable store of wealth. As more investors are seeing Bitcoin as a safe-haven asset, the attention coming to the market seems to be from longer-term investors. Now, as a hedge against the threatening hyperinflation and struggling US dollar, investors see Bitcoin as a more stable store of value, despite its reputation as one of the more volatile assets.

As Michael Saylor, the CEO of MicroStrategy said, Bitcoin is emerging as one of the stronger reserve assets. This could result in a major shift in the financial systems as we know it:

#Bitcoin is the world’s best treasury reserve asset & the emerging dominant monetary network. It is the solution to the store of value problem faced by every individual, corporation, & government on earth. As this news gets out, the world is going to change for the better. https://t.co/ADPBvhpHTk

— Michael Saylor (@michael_saylor) November 30, 2020

Bitcoin and gold both displaying excellent performances

On top of this, it’s worth noting that Bitcoin’s trend has far outweighed that of gold this year. This, even though the precious metal also experienced record highs this year too. While gold has stood as one of the leading hedge assets for years, Bitcoin as the new hot asset has boasted an incredible year. This is partly driven by the struggling economy and the need for a hedge against the dollar as well as factors related to timing and the cycle of the cryptocurrency market.