[Bitcoin Now] Rises to 38 Million Won... Ethereum Surpasses 1.6 Million Won

Mark Cuban, NBA Dallas Mavericks Owner: "Blockchain-Based Assets Are Legitimate"

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[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] Bitcoin, the top cryptocurrency by market capitalization, which had remained in the 36 million KRW range the previous day, surged to the 38 million KRW range in just one day. Ethereum also resumed its upward trend, surpassing the 1.6 million KRW mark.

According to Upbit, a domestic cryptocurrency exchange, as of 10:10 AM on the 3rd, Bitcoin was priced at 38,643,000 KRW, up about 6% compared to 24 hours earlier.

Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA team Dallas Mavericks, praised the value of cryptocurrencies on the team's official blog on the 31st of last month (local time). He said, "Blockchain-based assets are a legitimate store of value," adding, "Especially since there is no central authority and they do not have to contend with governments or large corporations, they are highly favored by younger generations."

Earlier, on the 11th of last month (local time), he had criticized cryptocurrencies on Twitter, saying, "Cryptocurrencies are like the dot-com bubble," but completely reversed his stance on cryptocurrencies following the GameStop stock surge phenomenon. The GameStop stock surge occurred on the 20th of last month when individual investors in the U.S. rallied mainly through social media, buying GameStop shares and related call options, driving up the stock price and dealing a significant blow to hedge funds and other short-selling entities.

The replacement of the CEO of Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce company, is also influencing the cryptocurrency market. On the 2nd (local time), CNBC reported that Jeff Bezos will step down as CEO in the third quarter of this year, with Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon Web Services, succeeding him. Andy Jassy has shown deep interest in cryptocurrencies. In 2018, he unveiled a blockchain-based platform and management services.

At the same time, Ethereum also recorded 1,621,000 KRW, up about 9% compared to 24 hours earlier. This is the second time this year that it has surpassed the 1.6 million KRW mark.

The steady rise of Ethereum is interpreted as reflecting its high future growth potential. Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S., stated in its '2020 Annual Review Report' released on the 22nd of last month, "Ethereum’s open-source distributed software enables the reinvention of financial products and services," and predicted that "Ethereum could become the center of a new payment network."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.