Bitcoin, seemingly omnipresent, crosses the $50,000 mark

SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — After a wild stretch in which Bitcoin repeatedly set new highs amid murmurs of its seemingly unstoppable ascendance, the digital currency crossed the $50,000 mark for the first time Tuesday.

Bitcoin is rallying as more companies signal the volatile digital currency could eventually gain widespread acceptance as a legitimate means of payment. Bitcoin has been mostly seen as a store of value, like gold, with few places accepting it in exchange for goods or services.

Companies have been leery because Bitcoin's volatility and its use by parties who want to avoid the traditional banking system for a myriad of reasons.

Last Monday, however, the electric car company Tesla sent a tremor through the digital currency markets, saying that it was buying $1.5 billion in Bitcoin as part of a new investment strategy, and that it would soon be accepting Bitcoin in exchange for its cars.

Then Blue Ridge Bank of Charlottesville, Virginia, said that it would become the first commercial bank to provide access to Bitcoin at its branches. The regional bank said Wednesday that cardholders can purchase and redeem Bitcoin at 19 of its ATMs.

BNY Mellon, the oldest bank in the U.S., followed a day later, saying it would include digital currencies in the services it provides to clients. Mastercard said it would start supporting “select crypto currencies” on its network.

While most expect a slow evolution toward widespread usage of bitcoins as currency Richard Lyons, a finance professor at the University of California at Berkeley, says it's inevitable. Lyons predicts Bitcoin and other digital currencies “will become transactional currencies increasingly over the next five years. It’s not going to happen overnight,” he said.

Lee Reiners, who teaches fintech...