Today Bitcoin exploded upwards and maintained that level for several hours before it began to fall off. While I am writing this it is trading at $22,750 USD. The runup today caught me a little off guard until I realized the series of events that occurred that easily could have fueled this run-up.

Reason One

The US released a jobs report today and it was not good at all. The number of people filing for unemployment was up to a new three-month high to levels not seen since before the market exploded upwards overall three months ago. This naturally caused people to fly to "safe havens" which Bitcoin has more and more been associated with and/or considered. 

Reason Two

Continued US dollar weakness. The dollar has been weakening compared to other currencies recently and has continued to do so. Yesterday and furthermore today CNBC and other finance outlets highlighted this issue. Again this causes a flight to gold, silver, etc. and with Bitcoin being considered digital gold it stands to benefit from continued dollar weakness. 

Reason Three

This was by far the biggest reason and the big news of the crypto sphere today. Coinbase's filing of an S-1 which is done in preparation for an IPO. The biggest exchange in the US is Coinbase and it has gotten all of the different regulations settled for crypto to be bought and sold with it in the US. With the company filing for an IPO, this further validates cryptos as something that is here, has value and will continue to. This will give investors and the government the ability at least to see how blockchain operates and the applications that can be built off of it. No exchange before has moved forward like this and taken this step with an IPO.

The amount of wealth in the American stock market that will be able to tap this is huge and could drive the value of the company through the roof. While some may hate the idea of the books being opening on a company like this to use Coinbase you already have to fillout a Know Your Customer or KYC so this information is already accessible. This public stance though and the willingness to do this should and I believe will spur further growth and investment in crypto and blockchain overall.