Bitcoin is up 1.3% at $1,227 a coin as traders move into the cryptocurrency amid a scramble for safety. Tuesday’s bid comes following rising political tensions in the Middle East and on the Korean Peninsula which caused a steep sell off in risk assets. While those assets have clawed back their losses, bitcoin and other plays like the yen are holding onto their gains.
Tuesday’s advance has the cryptocurrency trading at its best level since March 16, the day before worries resurfaced that bitcoin’s developers could set up a “hard fork,” splitting it in two.
That was the beginning of a quick 25% plunge that concluded when the US Securities and Exchange Commission rejected a second bitcoin exchange traded fund. Earlier in the month, the SEC shot down the Winklevoss twins’ plans for their own ETF.
However, not all of the news surrounding bitcoin has been bad as of late. On April 3, Japan ruled that the cryptocurrency is a legal payment method.
Bitcoin has been the t0p-performing currency every year since 2010, except for 2014, and is up 29% so far in 2017.