Hype was the driving factor for Bitcoin reaching its ATH in May. This time, its utility and political backing is driving its rise as a viable investment.

As we witness a new all time high for Bitcoin, it is worth reflecting on the things that have changed since its previous highest value.

A vast majority of the reason for Bitcoin and other major alts reaching their highs back in May was little more than hype. Memecoins like Doge, and the rally of the GME stock were leading the way. The FOMO was real. Unfortunately, this is what also led to a large portion of the drop and the subsequent massive dip. Since the hype was never going to be maintained, there was little else propping up the values.

Since then however, a number of projects, particularly Bitcoin specific, have promoted more viable long term investment and adoption. Some examples include:

• The first Bitcoin Futures ETF just started trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
• Grayscale is planning to convert their US$39 billion fund into a physical ETF.
• Bitcoin is now the 8th most valuable asset on the planet.
• Google announced a Bitcoin payments option
• Twitter is using the Lightning Network
• An actual country adopted Bitcoin as its national currency

This time, it is much more than just hype driving the rise and use of Bitcoin.