Bitcoin Faces Regulatory Scrutiny.
The cryptocurrency almost quadrupled, surpassing $20,000 for the first time as it notched record after record. Devotees say that in some ways, the pandemic-ravaged year proved the perfect environment for the digital coin. Warnings of rampant money-printing by global central banks — some of which started to reveal their own interests in digital assets — sparked fears of eventual inflation, while interest rates dipped to rock-bottom lows. That’s thrust some investors to chase returns and hedge with cryptocurrencies, pushing its price past $28,000 from around $7,200 at the start of January.