First Mover: Geek-Fest Turns Relevant as Bitcoin Passes $21K, $22K, $23K – CoinDesk

Bitcoin (BTC) was higher for a sixth straight day, carrying through after surging 9.9% Wednesday to surpass $20,000 for the first time in the cryptocurrency’s 11-year history. 

“We are expecting this inertia to generate ripple effects going into the end of the year as momentum continues to skew bitcoin to the upside,” Lennard Neo, head of research for the digital-asset products issuer Stack Funds, wrote Thursday in a report.  

Here’s a brief recap of CoinDesk’s coverage of the rally past $20K:

In traditional markets, European stocks gained on coronavirus vaccine hopes and the British pound climbed as officials predicted a Brexit deal soon. U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open as congressional leaders hashed out a $900 billion stimulus bill. The dollar slumped after Wednesday’s Federal Reserve meeting disappointed some investors who were expecting a more dovish outcome. Gold strengthened 0.7% to $1,878 an ounce. 

For those keeping track, bitcoin is now up 217% in 2020, roughly 14 times this year’s gains in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index of U.S. stocks. Gold is up 24%.  

(Editor’s note: This is the fourth installment of First Mover’s recap of how the bitcoin market evolved over the course of 2020 and what it means for the future. Today we cover the month of May, when the Bitcoin blockchain underwent its once-every-four-years “halving.” Outlandishly high price predictions for the cryptocurrency failed to materialize, but the network’s programmed reduction in the pace of new bitcoin issuance set up a stark contrast with Federal Reserve money printing, measured in the trillions of dollars.) 

In early 2020, before the devastating economic toll of the coronavirus became clear to investors, the main narrative in the bitcoin market was the upcoming “halving” – an arcane, once-every-four years occurrence that takes place on the underlying blockchain network. 

Since the Bitcoin blockchain was invented only 11 years ago, it would just be the third halving in history. It was very technical, but the whole process was hard-coded into the network’s underlying programming, and the basics went something like this: At a certain point in May, the pace of new issuance of bitcoin by the blockchain would get cut in half, to about 6.25 bitcoins every 10 minutes or so from the 12.5-bitcoin average clip that had prevailed over the recent four-year period.

Generally speaking, few surprises were expected, with all the details stipulated in advance. But that was sort of the point: Under the cryptocurrency’s design, things were supposed to run like clockwork, giving humans little leeway to intervene based on subjectivity or politics.

These were no ordinary times. In the prior months, the deep economic toll of the coronavirus had sent global markets reeling, dragging down…