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Bitcoin Hits Record of $48,000 as Mastercard, BNY Mellon Embrace Crypto

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Bitcoin jumped to a record high of $48,000 after Mastercard Inc and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. moved to make it easier for customers to use cryptocurrencies.

The largest digital asset rose as much as 8.1 percent to $48,663, surpassing the all-time high reached Monday after Tesla Inc. announced it would hold $1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency on its balance sheet.

“Bitcoin appears to be in a near-perfect storm for higher prices, and Tesla has helped solidify about $50,000 as the next whole number resistance target,” said Mike McGlone, a Bloomberg Intelligence commodity strategist.

Mastercard singled out so-called “stablecoins,” which often peg their value to that of another asset, such as the U.S. dollar.

Mastercard has already partnered with crypto card providers such as Wirex and BitPay, but has required digital currencies to be converted into fiat before processing payments for transactions on its network.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. said Thursday it will hold, transfer and issue Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for institutional customers.

“The announcements from both Mastercard and BNY Mellon confirm the fundamental shift that financial institutions are committing to cryptocurrencies,” said Ed Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda Corp. “This is great news for further mainstream acceptance with cryptocurrencies and will likely continue to keep the excitement going for Bitcoin.”

Regulatory scrutiny remains a wild card for crypto investors. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, speaking at a Treasury forum for financial sector innovation, warned misuse  of cryptocurrencies was a growing problem.

Yellen has previously raised concerns about the use of cryptocurrencies in illicit financing.

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