- Bitcoin rose 15% to its strongest level since mid-June on Monday.
- Positive remarks by Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey, and Cathie Wood at "The B Word" event helped drive the gains.
- Chatter about Amazon possibly accepting bitcoin payments by the end of 2021 are seen as adding further support.
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Bitcoin leapt 15% on Monday to rise above $38,000 for the first time in about six weeks, after remarks from influential commentators and a report that Amazon is considering accepting payments in the cryptocurrency helped restore bullish investor sentiment.
The coin was trading at around $38,750 as of 3:15 a.m. ET, representing a 33% gain so far this year. It had earlier hit a 24-hour high of about $39,544, its highest level since mid-June.
After being stuck in a descending slope for three months, bitcoin broke out at the top end of recent levels following positive comments from leading CEOs Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey, and Cathie Wood at "The B Word" event last week.
Tesla CEO Musk said the electric-vehicle maker would be open to accepting bitcoin as payment again, as long as the mining community strives to move towards efficient energy use. Twitter boss Dorsey said that bitcoin is a big part of the social-media platform's future, and that he's working to make an accessible wallet for it via payments company Square.
A report from London's City A.M. about Amazon possibly accepting bitcoin payments by the end of 2021 also helped drive the digital currency's move higher. The roll-out may not take long, since the online retail giant has been working on these plans since 2019, a source told the newspaper, it reported.
Amazon is also looking to hire someone to lead its digital currency and blockchain initiatives.
The re-emergence of institutional experts, along with Goldman Sachs' recent services for institutional trades in bitcoin, helped drive the weekend rally for bitcoin, Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst at OANDA, said in a note on Monday.
"I still believe the entire sector and un-stable coins are complete nonsense that will lose small investors billions, but the people have spoken, and the digital Dutch tulips look ripe for a large rally in the short term," Halley said.