Bitcoin breaks through $50,000, setting a new all-time high; Huobi Technology's stock price rises by more than 200% in February

According to the Huobi Global Station market, on February 18, the BTC price reached a high of 52,615.20 USDT, setting a new record high. On February 18, the share price of Huobi Technology reached a high of HK$29.55, and the share price of Huobi Technology rose by more than 200% throughout February.
Traditional institutions are heavily involved in the Bitcoin market <br />The continued rise in Bitcoin prices is related to the fact that many traditional institutions have recently extended olive branches to Bitcoin.
Specifically, BitPay, the world's largest blockchain payment service provider, said that Apple Pay will support payments using cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
Bank of New York Mellon (BK.US) announced that it will provide its customers with storage and transfer services for digital currencies such as Bitcoin.
Mastercard (MA.US) announced that it is actively in contact with major central banks around the world that are planning to launch digital currencies, and plans to support certain digital currencies on its payment network this year.
PayPal (PYPL.US) said it plans to provide crypto services to holders of the company's Venmo wallet by the end of the second quarter of 2021, and plans to expand its cryptocurrency business to a wider international market.
But the biggest impact on the price of Bitcoin is the news that Tesla purchased Bitcoin.
On February 9, 2021, documents from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that Tesla has invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin with the intention of maximizing and diversifying the company's cash returns. In addition to buying Bitcoin, the company will soon support the use of the virtual currency to purchase electric vehicles. Tesla regards its Bitcoin holdings as a long-term intangible asset.
The news caused Bitcoin to surge on the day it was released, laying the foundation for breaking through $50,000.
After Bitcoin broke through $50,000, it attracted widespread attention in the industry. On February 16, the front page of the Wall Street Journal reported that Bitcoin had broken through $50,000. The report said that the soaring price of Bitcoin is the most direct reflection of the supply and demand relationship. Among its investors are institutional investors such as Tesla, as well as billionaire investors such as Paul Tudor Jones and Stanley Druckenmiller.

As for why traditional institutions are aggressively entering the Bitcoin market, Huobi co-founder Du Jun believes that the global epidemic has not been effectively contained in 2021, and global central banks represented by the Federal Reserve still have aggressive monetary policy expectations. However, from a realistic perspective, no matter how aggressive the central bank's monetary policy is, the actual economic environment that can support consumer investment is still objectively limited by the epidemic, which may make the central bank's monetary policy ineffective and lead to a liquidity trap. The gross profit margins of many real economy companies will be greatly affected, and it will be difficult to obtain good investment return expectations. In this context, scarce assets are naturally favored by institutions. Bitcoin has more advantages than gold in terms of preservation, verification and circulation. As the Bitcoin consensus expands in 2020, compliant channels such as Grayscale meet the conditions for institutional entry, and a large amount of funds begin to pour in, prompting Bitcoin prices to rise.
Cryptocurrency trading platforms are accelerating compliance development <br />The rise in Huobi Technology's stock price is related to the rise in Bitcoin prices on the one hand, and is also related to the good development of cryptocurrency trading platforms on the other.
Previously, Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, announced through its official blog that it would go public by directly issuing Class A common stock.
Coinbase began trading private shares on the Nasdaq secondary market at the end of last month. According to people familiar with the matter, the private share price was settled at $303 per share last week, giving the company a valuation of $77 billion, surpassing the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), which currently has a market value of approximately $63.35 billion.
Coinbase's listing is not only a financing goal for the company, but more importantly, it highlights the compliance development of cryptocurrency trading platforms. The compliance of trading platforms is also an important trend in the development of the digital asset industry. Channel compliance provides a better entry point for institutional investment. After Coinbase is really listed, the impact on the development of the digital asset industry will be far-reaching. (Crypto Martin)