Bitcoin news live: BTC resurgent as Polygon nears all-time highs

The price of Polygon (MATIC) is teasing an all-time high, reaching to within $0.03 of the peak it reached in May this year of $2.68.

It is the only one of the leading cryptocurrencies to be currently experiencing a near-record-breaking rally, with current discussions in crypto forums focussing on whether or not an all-time high is a good time to skim off profits.

It’s been a remarkable year for the altcoin, which has risen by nearly 15,000 per cent since January.

Leading cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase appears to have stopped working amid a major outage impacting several web services.

Users are reporting being unable to log in to their accounts to buy, sell or trade bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Website health monitor Down Detector registered more than 500 reports of issues with the crypto exchange.

The president of El Salvador has announced the purchase of a further 21 bitcoins, adding to the Central American country’s already-considerable stash of cryptocurrency.

Nayib Bukele shared screenshots of the latest bitcoin buy, which cost close to $1 million, noting the significance of the date, time and even the country’s size – which all line up with the 21 million bitcoins that will ever exist.

“El Salvador’s entire size is 21,000km2,” he wrote on Twitter. “Coincidence? I don’t think so!

“And today is the last 21st day of the year 21 of the 21st century.”

The price of bitcoin has continued its recent revival, rising above $49,500 overnight.

The gains have boosted a buoyant crypto market, which has risen by more than 2 per cent over the last 24 hours to return close to $2.3 trillion.

Bitcoin is enjoying its biggest price surge since November, briefly climbing above $49,000 before slipping slightly below again.

Less than 24 hours ago, the cryptocurrency was trading just above $45,000 – its lowest point since late September.

We reached out earlier for some expert comment on the latest market movements, we’ll be bringing it to you shortly.

The latest bitcoin price surge has propelled it out of a descending channel that first formed in early December, giving hope to traders and investors.

Crypto market analyst and author Glen Goodman shared a price chart of the movement on Twitter this morning, claiming it shows “signs of life”.

When asked by one of his followers if the upward movement has encouraged him to buy BTC, Goodman said he was still “heavy with long-term positions” but didn’t rule it out.

“I’m more tempted by ETH, but this BTC pattern is quite compelling,” he said.

Popstar Cardi B has asked her 20 million+ Twitter followers whether they thing “crypto is going to replace the dollar”, with Twitter’s own Jack Dorsey responding in the affirmative.

The founder and former CEO of the platform is a well known bitcoin maximalist and recently stepped down from Twitter in order to focus more on his crypto projects like his fintech firm Block (formerly known as Square).

Earlier this year, Dorsey tweeted: “Bitcoin will unite a deeply divided country. (and eventually: world).”

A city in Tennessee is set to become the first in the Unite States to add cryptocurrency as a payroll option for employees.

Jackson City Mayor Scott Conger, who is a long-standing bitcoin advocate, said the move will “bring more opportunity” to the district and provide local government with different ways to finance things.

“It’s not something that’s going to be required,” he told the Jackson Sun. “It’s an alternative. Think of it like you’re investing in the stock market. What do you want to do? You’re want to diversify your investments. And this is just another way to diversify the portfolio of how we generate revenue – potentially throughout the city.”

A new consumer survey in the UK has revealed that nearly three quarters (71 per cent) of 18-34-year olds would be happy to receive cryptocurrency as a last-minute Christmas gift.

The same survey, carried out by Scottish crypto startup Zumo, also found that only 16 per cent of Brits would actually know how to buy bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.

Zumo CEO Nick Kones said: “It’s a great shame that most people don’t know the first thing about how to buy someone crypto as a Christmas gift. The good news is that it’s never been easier for people to buy, sell and spend crypto in the real world. Christmas is a great time for people who want to step into crypto but don’t know how.”