Prices of Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies rebounded on Friday in Asia despite recent criticism of Facebook’s plans for its Libra coin.
Bitcoin rose 5.2% to $10,499.4 by 1:05 AM ET (05:05 GMT). Ethereum gained 1.5% to $221.26, while XRP inched up 0.9% to 0.31800.
Litecoin surged 6.9% to $99.128.
While there wasn’t a clear reason for the bounce in Bitcoin, some crypto watchers suggested that Facebook’s two-day testimony on the Capitol Hill about its Libra plans had not only raised the public profile of Bitcoin but also helped differentiate it from its peers.
“If someone were to tell me seven years ago that the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Secretary, and the President were all going to talk about bitcoin publicly within seven days, I would have been extremely excited,” said Dan Held, co-founder and director of BD for Interchange.
Technical reasons, alongside comments from U.S. representative Patrick McHenry who said that he believes Bitcoin “can not be killed” in an interview with CNBC were also possible catalysts for the buying of cryptocurrencies today.
“I think there’s no capacity to kill Bitcoin. Even the Chinese, with their firewall and their extreme intervention in their society could not kill Bitcoin,” McHenry said.
McHenry also noted that newer cryptocurrencies are trying to replicate the success of Bitcoin’s decentralized, open-access network.
“The essence of Bitcoin is what Libra and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), and corporates are trying to mimic.”
