Bitcoin Price New All-Time High at $1,442, Bitfury Executive Predicts $5,000

Bitcoin price achieved its new all-time high yet again earlier this morning at $1,442. The average trading value of Bitcoin was similar throughout the Japanese and US Bitcoin exchange markets, at $1,430.

On April 29, only two days ago, Cointelegraph reported that Bitcoin price established a new all-time high at $1,377. At the time, analysts including BKCM CEO Brian Kelly attributed the upward trend of Bitcoin price to the US Securities Exchange Commission’s decision to re-examine the Winklevoss twins’ Bitcoin ETF COIN proposal.

“The SEC is concerned about how most of the markets [for Bitcoin] has traded outside of the US with no regulatory oversight. As of this point, I don’t think the SEC would approve the ETF. What would change my mind is if the ETF or SEC only traded Bitcoin on regulated exchanges,” said Kelly.

Since then, Bitcoin price increased by another five percent. Although Bitcoin price has declined slightly upon reaching its new all-time high, over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin price demonstrated a 7.3 percent increase and it is currently averaged at $1,437.

Many analysts including Bitfury Group executive vice chairman George Kikvadze, attributed the recent surge in Bitcoin price to the explosive growth of the Japanese Bitcoin exchange market and the activation of SegWit on Litecoin.

Kikvadze writes:

Japan; new btc apps and inst. investors driving price twrds $1500; if we activate well-tested; no risk scaling #segwit - easily at $5000 — George Kikvadze (@BitfuryGeorge) May 1, 2017

The Japanese government’s legalization of Bitcoin and the elimination of taxes for Bitcoin trading have hugely impacted the Bitcoin trading ecosystem and the demand for the digital currency in Japan. Some of Japan’s largest financial companies including SBI Group have begun to involve themselves in the Bitcoin industry by supporting and funding various projects.

More importantly, Kikvadze predicted that Bitcoin price would most likely achieve $5,000 with SegWit enabled. Also, Bitcoin price is increasing due to the full activation of SegWit on Litecoin. As the cryptocurrency community has finally seen the possibility of SegWit being activated on a successful digital currency, the community has become more optimistic toward the activation of SegWit on Bitcoin.

Also, Kikvadze explained that during a meeting, high profile investors unanimously agreed that they are interested in Bitcoin but are only willing to “massively” invest in Bitcoin once SegWit is activated.

“Just finished a two-week roadshow with investors. Message: We love Bitcoin but need to sort out scaling before we massively invest. Active SegWit!,” said Kikvadze.