Bitcoin surged beyond $50,000 for the first time since May as crypto prices continued to recover from the massive sell-off three months ago.

In morning trading on 23 August, the largest virtual currency had advanced nearly 2% $50,253.50, having started August below $41,700. Bitcoin topped $65,000 in April 2021.

The move came as PayPal announced it will allow people to
buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies in the UK, the first international expansion of the US digital payments giant crypto service outside of the US, and another hint at wider adoption of the industry.

The overseas expansion suggests that the tech giant thinks the UK is a hub of crypto activity worth tapping into, said Laith Khalaf, head of investment analysis at AJ Bell.

A survey conducted by the investment platform earlier this year found that many UK investors were leapfrogging traditional forms of savings and diving in at the deep end by investing in crypto.

‘Our survey found that six out of 10 crypto investors don’t have an ISA, and half don’t have a pension,’ said Khalaf.

Bitcoin topping $50,000 follows news last week that Coinbase will buy $500 million in cryptos to put on its balance sheet and put 10% of quarterly profits into a crypto portfolio.

Coinbase is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US.

DISCLAIMER: Financial services company AJ Bell owns Shares magazine. Tom Sieber who edited this article and the author Steven Frazer own shares in AJ Bell

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