Bitcoin Hits New All-Time High After Mastercard, BNY Mellon Support Cryptocurrencies

On Thursday, Bitcoin jumped to a record high after Mastercard Inc. and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. announced initiatives to make it easier for customers to use cryptocurrencies.

The largest cryptocurrency's price rose as much as 7.4% to $48,364, surpassing the all-time high it touched on Monday after Tesla Inc. announced that it would hold $1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency on its balance sheet.

On Wednesday, Mastercard Inc. said that it will begin allowing merchants to accept some cryptocurrencies on its network later this year, embracing virtual currencies.

"We are here to enable customers, merchants and businesses to move digital value - traditional or crypto - however they want," said Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard's executive vice president for digital assets in a blog post.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. also made a similar announcement on Thursday where it said that it will hold, transfer and issue Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for institutional customers.

Interest in cryptocurrencies has accelerated on Monday after a filing with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) showed that Tesla bought bitcoins worth $1.5 billion in January 2021 after the company updated its investment policy to invest in digital assets. The company also said that it will start accepting Bitcoin as payment for its product and services in the future, a significant move towards accepting cryptocurrency for retail purchases.