Bitcoin’s seduction of mainstream investors continues as a new report suggests it’s a better performing asset than stocks and gold.

In brief

• Bitcoin pushes past $16000 as it outperforms stocks and gold.
• Ethereum suffered a brief hard fork but prices continued to climb.
• Stock Markets had a mixed day as US fails to halt rising COVID cases.

It was another strong day on the crypto markets as research highlighted Bitcoin’s market-beating performance when compared to traditional stocks and shares.

According to a note from analytics firm Messari, Bitcoin in comparison to real estate, stocks, gold and bonds delivers a higher rate of return over a four year period.

Bitcoin’s low correlation with other asset classes has made it an increasingly attractive asset to offset any losses seen in other parts of investor’s portfolios, said Mira Christanto, the Messari report author.

The report noted renewed interest from sovereign wealth and pension funds, concluding, “they have realized this opportunity and have begun new allocation strategies to maximize long-term value.”

The news helped crypto global market cap record its fourth straight day of growth. Prices ticked up 2.58% over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin took a healthy jump up with a 4.35% rise, thanks to its surge into the $16,000 at the time of writing.

Read more: Decrypt

From institutional investors, big endorsements and the Bitcoin halving, here are 5 key reasons for Bitcoin’s rising price.

In brief

• Bitcoin’s price has been increasing for months, and there are several reasons behind the surge.
• High-profile figures and companies have expressed support for Bitcoin.
• Other reasons include Bitcoin halving, which also has a direct impact on Bitcoin’s price.

The price of Bitcoin is above $16,000, having broken through for the first time in three years. Its current price of $16,081 represents a 28% increase in value over the last three months.

It’s been a rapid rise since March, when Bitcoin drastically fell to

its lowest point of the year, touching as low as $4,000. The coin has continued to bounce back and has fought its way above the $10,000 price point, going on to make new recent highs—and hit values not seen since Bitcoin’s epic 2017 bull run. Yet this time, an entirely different set of circumstances are accelerating Bitcoin’s price to new highs.

Why is Bitcoin going up?

There are a multitude of reasons for Bitcoin’s price rise. Investment from large institutions like MicroStrategy have led the way, as have major companies like Grayscale managing Bitcoin for their own clients. What’s more, it’s now easier to buy Bitcoin since PayPal began letting people buy and sell Bitcoin.

Bitcoin’s total supply has also halved, and this has also played a role in Bitcoin’s price increase. Each of these individual factors have combined to generate an impressive bull run for Bitcoin during the second half of 2020. But it all began with MicroStrategy.

Read more: Decrypt