Bitcoin skyrockets above $50,000 for the first time ever

Bitcoin rose above $50,000 on Tuesday setting a new record high. This marks the first time in the history of any cryptocurrency.  Bitcoin hit a new high of $50,602, and was last up 5% at $50,300. It has risen around 72% so far this year.

The current rally was fueled by support from institutional support and $1.5 billion from Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Since Musk’s announcement, other mainstream investors have signaled their support for the world’s most popular cryptocurrency.

Last Friday, America’s oldest bank BNY Mellon said it is adopting cryptocurrencies and will start to treat bitcoin “as any other asset,” according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, as institutional support for bitcoin gains momentum, one tech giant is staying away from bitcoin, at least for now. Yesterday, PayPal Chief Financial Officer John Rainey told CNBC that the payments processing company is not likely to buy cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. Instead, the payment giant prefers to invest in services that are additive to the platforms it offers.

Bitcoin network came into existence on January 3, 2009, with Satoshi Nakamoto mining the genesis block of bitcoin (block number 0), which had a reward of 50 bitcoins.