Bitcoin Price Hits An All-Time High Of Past USD 20,000

The value of bitcoin, the world’s best-known cryptocurrency, has reached an all-time high of more than 20,000 dollars on Wednesday with analysts saying that it is likely to move past 25,000 dollars on Thursday.

The cryptocurrency rose by more than 6 percent on Wednesday to reach $20,632 (£15,283) against the US dollar, extending a winning streak this year amid growing interest among big investment companies attracted to its potential for quick gains.

The price of bitcoin has surged by more than 400 percent this year from a low point of around $3,600 in March when the coronavirus pandemic triggered a deep sell-off in financial markets around the world.

Analysts said that unlike in previous surges, a major price driver appeared to be more institutional investors buying into the cryptocurrency.

Nigel Green, the chief executive of deVere Group, a finance company which operates a bitcoin exchange, said: “They’re being attracted by the good returns that the digital asset class is currently offering but, more importantly, by the huge future potential it offers.

“As some of the world’s biggest institutions – among them multinational payment companies and Wall Street giants – pile ever more into crypto, bringing with them their enormous expertise and capital, this, in turn, swells consumer interest.”

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A fresh wave of crop-ravaging locust swarms threaten E. Africa

A new generation of locust swarms is threatening to wipe out the livelihoods of farmers and herders across eastern Africa – deepening a food crisis in a region where 35 million people are already hungry, the United Nations warned on Wednesday.

From January to August, massive desert locust swarms swept across Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya, ravaging crops and decimating pasture in the worst outbreak in decades.

Governments, supported by U.N. agencies and international charities, responded with large-scale aerial and ground spraying of pesticides to destroy the swarms, which scientists have linked to climate change.

But widespread rains in Ethiopia and flooding caused by a cyclone in Somalia last month have created favorable breeding conditions, allowing locust infestations to increase, said the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

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